Speaker 1: Streamy Live on the Ihearts Radio, while this is I
Speaker 1: on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox sportsporteen fifty.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to Trying the Ball here Fox Sports
Speaker 2: fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rovera, and today with me is
Speaker 2: Jim Monco. Great talking to everybody. Great talking to you.
Speaker 2: Coach Ryan was very good. Yeah, very good. He already
Speaker 2: texted you same thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. We were talking about something and again I need
Speaker 2: to write my stuff down. We're talking about coaching philosophies
Speaker 2: and things like that. Oh I know, how long did
Speaker 2: you coach?
Speaker 4: A total of thirty five years?
Speaker 2: Okay, So I'm gonna ask an honest question or a
Speaker 2: serious question, but you know your honesty will be depending.
Speaker 2: Did you know when you were playing in season that
Speaker 2: a team or players.
Speaker 4: Had given up on you? Absolutely?
Speaker 2: What did you How did you find out or how
Speaker 2: did you sense it? And what did you do?
Speaker 4: Realistically?
Speaker 5: You you can see it body language, how they're working
Speaker 5: in the weight room. You never have so much teams
Speaker 5: give up. It's it's players and usually it's the guys
Speaker 5: you count on the most right, right, How I handled
Speaker 5: it as I played somebody else?
Speaker 2: And how did that fix it didn't fix it.
Speaker 4: It didn't always. It didn't always.
Speaker 5: A lot of times you had a parent knocking on
Speaker 5: your door the next time saying, why isn't Billy Joe playing?
Speaker 5: And it's like, because his attitude stinks, and and if
Speaker 5: I'm gonna lose a game, I'm gonna lose a game
Speaker 5: with a kid that's gonna work his tail off for me,
Speaker 5: and not only that, but maybe get better so that I.
Speaker 4: Can count on him.
Speaker 2: Right, So didn't so if it did, indeed, fact turn
Speaker 2: how was he the next time?
Speaker 5: Sometimes it turned out for the better they understood. I
Speaker 5: think sometimes athletes want to push their code right. You
Speaker 5: have to be as consistent as possible with your words.
Speaker 5: If you say you're five minutes, If you're not here
Speaker 5: on time, and then the star quarterback comes in at
Speaker 5: at you know, five oh three, he better be rolling
Speaker 5: or everybody else is going to be like, so why
Speaker 5: can he get away?
Speaker 2: Right? Right?
Speaker 4: So you have to be consistent.
Speaker 2: I see that a lot. I see that a lot. Well,
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say I see that anymore, but I used
Speaker 2: to see that a lot. And you're thinking, oh, that's
Speaker 2: not a good move because you look for this guy
Speaker 2: for that guy, YadA YadA, and the kids remember that,
Speaker 2: they remember that they do, they do, and they turn
Speaker 2: That's when they turn on you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I've said that to a bunch of times.
Speaker 4: Kids aren't stupid.
Speaker 5: They get it and they understand that if you if
Speaker 5: you love them and you punish them, that that you're
Speaker 5: not just doing it to be the ross.
Speaker 2: So this is the thing that I had an issue
Speaker 2: with with then I would I would tell Jenny this
Speaker 2: all the time, and he brought it up to me
Speaker 2: all the time because I brought it up so much.
Speaker 2: Jim Monico is the quarterback. He's getting fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 2: every half, half season or whatever. Steve Rivera's is blocking
Speaker 2: fromm at the center, I'm getting ten. How do you
Speaker 2: think that would sit because I'm creating holes for you, Jim.
Speaker 4: I was a center, so I'd be pissed off right now.
Speaker 2: No, No, you know what I'm saying. Yes, it's not equitable,
Speaker 2: and I know life isn't fair, and I'll be the
Speaker 2: first to admit that. I don't even use the word
Speaker 2: because I don't believe in it. But how do you
Speaker 2: how do you figure that out?
Speaker 4: Steve? I don't know. I wish I knew. It's not fair.
Speaker 5: And that guy who takes Hey, listen, we all understand, right,
Speaker 5: the quarterbacks, the guy he leads, you know. And I've
Speaker 5: had a couple that you just go, they'll come in
Speaker 5: and lift with the offensive linemen because they've got to
Speaker 5: love you, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: My middle son, Jimmy, played for Phil Longo at LaSalle University.
Speaker 4: Was his head coach.
Speaker 5: Now we'll see a Wisconsin but he always said that
Speaker 5: when when Jimmy got on his trip, he's like the
Speaker 5: old lion's picking him up. Yeah, because they've got to
Speaker 5: want to bust their necks for this kid. And I
Speaker 5: think it becomes very, very jaded when you have a
Speaker 5: kid up front that's just taking an absolute beaten and
Speaker 5: this guy's in the pocket that he's creating, right, and
Speaker 5: he's not making close to what he makes. I don't,
Speaker 5: Honest to god, I couldn't tell you because I just
Speaker 5: think it's unfair. I couldn't run a team like that.
Speaker 5: That's maybe why I wouldn't get the top quarterback in
Speaker 5: the country.
Speaker 2: Right right, No, it's very difficult. I'm sure in a
Speaker 2: lot of the well you saw Tony Bennett right, he quit.
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, he's fifty four years old. Whatever
Speaker 2: party has more money than he needs. But you don't
Speaker 2: get to do what you want to do because of
Speaker 2: the situation.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know of a man who's been
Speaker 2: more or fair to himself than that. How can you say,
Speaker 2: I don't think I'm gonna be good at this. I
Speaker 2: got to get out absolutely right. And I know I
Speaker 2: wouldn't have been good like I told you earlier.
Speaker 5: Right, God knows what he's doing, because I could never
Speaker 5: re recruit, forget the nil. I could never re recruit
Speaker 5: my kids, right, and I go here I'm talking about.
Speaker 5: I think it's a better situation. Wow, I mean, I
Speaker 5: just I couldn't do that. So that that's why I
Speaker 5: got out of the right place.
Speaker 2: So I asked you about a coach, about what makes
Speaker 2: a good coach, what makes a good.
Speaker 4: Player, somebody who has character, work, ethic.
Speaker 5: See, I you know the kids, you said say to
Speaker 5: me all the time, I'm gonna I'm gonna run four
Speaker 5: four next year.
Speaker 4: I say, you know, I'm Jim, not Jesus.
Speaker 5: Let's let's try to help you out right, I said,
Speaker 5: But I can't make you six four if you're five eleven,
Speaker 5: but I can make you better at your craft. That
Speaker 5: player that has that work ethic and character has credibility.
Speaker 5: You know, when we would rec fruit kids, it was very,
Speaker 5: very difficult at the JC level because you just didn't
Speaker 5: have the budget that some JC is like like at
Speaker 5: Western and Eastern and Snow had right and they would
Speaker 5: fly all over the country.
Speaker 4: We had it. We did it on our own dime.
Speaker 5: And you know, we would recruit kids and you want
Speaker 5: to see how they interact with your parents. You want
Speaker 5: to see how the coach talks about him. And I
Speaker 5: would even sit down and after a coach would tell
Speaker 5: me all about this kid who is the greatest kid
Speaker 5: he's ever coached in his life. I said, then why
Speaker 5: is he coming to Pima?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: You know, and I wanted to hear that. Sure was
Speaker 5: it because you felt he wasn't developed enough. It was
Speaker 5: his his grades weren't where they should be. Did he
Speaker 5: not get the offers? But you're telling me this kid's unbelievable,
Speaker 5: So why am I getting them?
Speaker 4: You know, how is he is?
Speaker 3: He?
Speaker 5: And I would even talk to the teammates, you know,
Speaker 5: how is he in the weight room with you?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 5: He doesn't lift half the time, right, you got that
Speaker 5: Booby Miles thing.
Speaker 4: Sure, right, the kid doesn't lift. So it happens.
Speaker 5: And I won't I won't say a name, but we
Speaker 5: were recruiting a young man out of Louisiana who was
Speaker 5: absolutely the best running back I have ever seen in
Speaker 5: my life. And in the state championship games three games
Speaker 5: he played, he ran for over nine hundred yards in
Speaker 5: those three games. And it was between US and Kansas,
Speaker 5: And really, I asked, I said, so I want to know,
Speaker 5: and I'll go one step further. He had pro NFL
Speaker 5: players looking no kind of run managing him. So I said, look,
Speaker 5: here's deal. Why did he pick Kansas because they were
Speaker 5: the first school that came in off him, just like
Speaker 5: you guys are the second school that came out. And
Speaker 5: he'll come to you if he can't get in. Well,
Speaker 5: while that was going on, a pro ballplayer who's going
Speaker 5: to be in the Hall of Fame said to one
Speaker 5: of my coaches, you know, look at he he takes
Speaker 5: a couple of days off every now and then because
Speaker 5: he runs so hard and stuff, and went that ain't
Speaker 5: gonna sit well with coach Monica. And he goes, well, no, no,
Speaker 5: you don't understand. This is ready. And they said, you
Speaker 5: don't understand. If he takes a rest, everybody else has
Speaker 5: to get arrest. But he ain't gonna do that, so
Speaker 5: he needs to be It waits at five a m.
Speaker 5: And they were like, well, he'll be there, but you know,
Speaker 5: you just got to understand who you're dealing with. He said, no,
Speaker 5: we love him, we love him, and we want him.
Speaker 5: And he was going to come to us, but Kansas
Speaker 5: snuck him into some summer school and got him in
Speaker 5: and actually he went to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 2: Okay, so he did did him out to Oh.
Speaker 5: My goodness, but he uh and he got caught because
Speaker 5: it just he left after his sophomore year. Was just foolish.
Speaker 5: But anyway, the kid was phenomenal. But they just said,
Speaker 5: you know, he doesn't care who he is. You know,
Speaker 5: it's the team.
Speaker 2: Is it's an extra.
Speaker 5: It's not an extra, it's what what makes you your
Speaker 5: You're no doubt when get tough.
Speaker 2: So we got a few minutes here before we go
Speaker 2: to We're going to talk to the a U A
Speaker 2: champion triathlete coach.
Speaker 4: That was insane. I didn't know they even had college triathletes.
Speaker 2: I was going to go there with you because because
Speaker 2: you you guys lose a football program. How now you
Speaker 2: can talk about it more than you did. How devastating
Speaker 2: was that? Oh my god, do I want to bring
Speaker 2: that up?
Speaker 4: It was horrible.
Speaker 5: I mean, here we are playing incredible going to a
Speaker 5: bowl game and knowing it's it. But what gave what
Speaker 5: gave me some solace our kids that were recruited, we
Speaker 5: gave them the option to leave. They hit that to
Speaker 5: me before the season, and we knew it was coming.
Speaker 5: So I called every single person. Not one person left
Speaker 5: the program. I can't say that might be one of
Speaker 5: the highlights of my coaching career is just knowing that
Speaker 5: every kid that said he'd come wanted to come and
Speaker 5: this staff and it was phenomenal.
Speaker 4: Right, And we went to a bowl game with.
Speaker 5: Minus nine starters and those kids played two ways, and
Speaker 5: we had kids that had four or five carries during
Speaker 5: the season and they were in the just they gave
Speaker 5: everything they had.
Speaker 2: This is a dumb question because I should know this answer.
Speaker 2: Uh scurring, he's written a book or two. Has anybody
Speaker 2: written about this rag tag group of people? For your
Speaker 2: final year? There's not a story there.
Speaker 5: Oh, they'd probably a great story. I couldn't write it
Speaker 5: because they'd have to X ray it too many cuss
Speaker 5: words and stuff, and the movie would be bad. But
Speaker 5: I mean, these kids are They're amazing. They're amazing. My
Speaker 5: staff didn't leave, the kids didn't leave. I mean, it
Speaker 5: was just it was a tremendous year, and then finishing
Speaker 5: it off in that Bowl game was great. But I'll
Speaker 5: tell you what I didn't. I didn't pout all year.
Speaker 5: I didn't whine about it all year. But when we
Speaker 5: got that runner up trophy and I went to my
Speaker 5: rental car to drive it back, that was a tough ride.
Speaker 2: Now, now you've been out for a year, you were
Speaker 2: not coming back. Now you can be honest. Do you
Speaker 2: think it would have ever could have come back? You
Speaker 2: said no, no, because money money. You have to understand.
Speaker 5: Right, A helmet now, and I haven't bought them for
Speaker 5: a while, but they were over three hundred when I
Speaker 5: bought them each, and you're talking one hundred and fifty
Speaker 5: hundred and sixty helmets, or even if you only want
Speaker 5: to have one hundred kids, you've got to have extra.
Speaker 2: Was that the number one cost was the number one reason.
Speaker 5: Well, they were saying cost and you know, I'll, i'll heck,
Speaker 5: I don't have to worry about anything now, And I well,
Speaker 5: I really didn't even when I was working there. But
Speaker 5: you know, we didn't even have a line budget. I'd say, well,
Speaker 5: how do you know what my budget is? Well, this
Speaker 5: is what it is from last year.
Speaker 4: The hell do you know what to spend on?
Speaker 5: So realistically, we didn't even have We weren't even funded.
Speaker 4: They were just making ways to pay for athletics, not
Speaker 4: just football.
Speaker 5: So and of course football is very expensive, and supposedly
Speaker 5: this new chancel they have in there now is just phenomena.
Speaker 4: He's just a great supporter of athletics.
Speaker 5: And I mean, how can you down athletics when twelve
Speaker 5: of thirteen teams are going to nationals every year and
Speaker 5: you're putting out seventy eighty one hundred academic All Americans.
Speaker 5: It didn't make sense to me. But when people say
Speaker 5: that to me now, I'm like, look, when I got in,
Speaker 5: I made our practice field the soccer field. We run
Speaker 5: out of time, No, we're good, Okay, we made it
Speaker 5: the soccer field, right, we got lights, we did this,
Speaker 5: We got a new scoreboard from Chapman and all that
Speaker 5: other stuff, And they say, well, what if you brought
Speaker 5: back football? So where do we practice? We can't tear
Speaker 5: up that soccer field. It's our game field. The reason
Speaker 5: I stopped going down to Keino Stadium it was running
Speaker 5: fifty sixty seventy thousand dollars a year to play games,
Speaker 5: and that was five six games. So it was a
Speaker 5: ton of money. It didn't make sense. And so where
Speaker 5: do you play? How do you get that? They sold
Speaker 5: everything we had, right, They sold all the equipment, They
Speaker 5: sold all the dummies, the sleds, they sold everything. So
Speaker 5: if you were going to start a program again, you're
Speaker 5: talking easily three quarters to a million dollars to try
Speaker 5: to get us off the ground, right right, yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: and then we had good sponsorship.
Speaker 2: So so we're going to have the coach from the
Speaker 2: triathlon from you? They right? Uh? Did you were you?
Speaker 2: Because you lost it? Was there ever time to maybe
Speaker 2: get a sport like bring one on?
Speaker 4: Yes? And college said no, College said no, What could
Speaker 4: you say?
Speaker 1: What it was?
Speaker 5: Anything I want? I said anything I wanted when I
Speaker 5: was still working there. Yeah, we uh so the and
Speaker 5: I got in trouble for it too. Because I wrote
Speaker 5: a grant to the NFL to get women's flag football.
Speaker 5: Oh ye, and it's moving now and we got it, okay.
Speaker 5: And all they said was is, we'll give you the
Speaker 5: money to start it. You just have to promise you'll
Speaker 5: keep it for three years or you have to pay
Speaker 5: back the funding. And it wasn't that much money, like
Speaker 5: twenty grand a year.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: So I'm like, awesome, I'm in. My boss said, awesome,
Speaker 5: We're in. We brought it up to the powers that
Speaker 5: be and they went, what are you doing right in
Speaker 5: a grant? We have a grant department, so me be
Speaker 5: and me I said, well, obviously the grant department is
Speaker 5: not that great because I got it, so can we
Speaker 5: have it?
Speaker 4: No? Then I tried for volleyball, sand volleyball. No.
Speaker 5: And of course, you know, in my tenure we lost
Speaker 5: tennis and golf, and we weren't fielding teams that not
Speaker 5: only were GPA good, which you expect from those sports,
Speaker 5: sure they, we weren't fielding enough players and we weren't
Speaker 5: keeping them eligible. So it was just I didn't want to.
Speaker 5: That was probably the biggest you know, pay Peter from Paul.
Speaker 2: But yeah, well I didn't know that. And obviously, uh,
Speaker 2: and I don't know why I didn't know about golf,
Speaker 2: although I know that the kid, right, that's why he left, wouldn't.
Speaker 4: Know no job.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and realistically I was trying to keep golf. We
Speaker 5: couldn't get a coach they did. We couldn't pay them
Speaker 5: enough money. They wouldn't give me any money to pay them. Well,
Speaker 5: you know, golf's bougie. You need to drink. Fine, you know,
Speaker 5: they're the fancy money, you know, but it was costing
Speaker 5: one hundred thousand bucks.
Speaker 2: You could have done it.
Speaker 4: Now that you're a golfer, I can teach it. I
Speaker 4: just can't show them. Oh yeah, I know how to
Speaker 4: tell them how to do it. I just can't.
Speaker 2: These guys are probably much better than you much. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5: They were driving the greens over at Randolph North hosted tournaments.
Speaker 2: We gotta go. We're gonna come back with the coach
Speaker 2: from the from the Tramplin one. Yeah, yeah, met Champs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Wes Johnson looking forward to this, so we'll come right back.
Speaker 6: Are you ready ready to discover your soul, your wild side,
Speaker 6: your passion, your joy and excitement from the latest slots
Speaker 6: and table games to award winning dining, to world class entertainment,
Speaker 6: to a luxurious resort.
Speaker 3: Discover all this and more.
Speaker 6: Discover with so Casino Del Sol the soul of Tucson.
Speaker 3: Are you ready enterprise so Fasco Yuki Try.
Speaker 7: The Window Depot has everything you need to create the
Speaker 7: kitchen or bathroom of your dreams. Browsey aisles of instock
Speaker 7: cabinets available in a variety of sizes and configurations, and
Speaker 7: instantly elevate your space. Today, visit a showroom and let
Speaker 7: our experts guide you. Whether you're choosing for ready to
Speaker 7: go designs or creating a custom masterpiece. We can help
Speaker 7: you select the perfect wood, type, color and style and
Speaker 7: top it off with unique hardware to complete your look.
Speaker 7: Find a location near you at the window deepot dot com.
Speaker 7: The Window Depot more than a windows store.
Speaker 2: Steve Rivera here to talk about Dorato Rock Materials. I
Speaker 2: needed a lot of gravel for my driveway, so I
Speaker 2: called Eric at Dorato Rock. He found out the amount
Speaker 2: and color I needed and boom, it was taken care
Speaker 2: of and at a great price. How do I know
Speaker 2: radio commercials work? I heard one of his on the radio.
Speaker 2: Dorato Rock and Materials provides a wide range of landscaping materials,
Speaker 2: including decorative rock, boulders, gravel, soil, and sand for residential
Speaker 2: and commercial use in the Tucson area. They are locally
Speaker 2: owned and have been around for more than fifteen years.
Speaker 2: Give them a call at five two zero four zero
Speaker 2: zero for two three three.
Speaker 4: Where do you buy exercise equipment?
Speaker 8: Arizona Health Arizona Health Arizona Health.
Speaker 9: Of course, to feel better and look better, it makes
Speaker 9: sense to buy your fitness equipment from the people who
Speaker 9: know it better than anyone else. At Arizona Health, our
Speaker 9: goal is to help you choose the equipment you need
Speaker 9: to reach your goals. Your health and fitness deserve the
Speaker 9: best you deserve. Arizona Health. The lead madge and exercise
Speaker 9: equipment on twenty second just west of Wilmot.
Speaker 10: School and the False four season are in full stride.
Speaker 10: Time to get that special student athlete a creative award
Speaker 10: for his or her efforts they are deserving. It's also
Speaker 10: time to rejuvenate your fall apparel with a crisp looking
Speaker 10: embroidered school corporate logo on caps, shorts or long sleeve follows.
Speaker 10: And why not get some fresh looking promotional products representing
Speaker 10: your school or corporation, or just giveaways for the upcoming
Speaker 10: twenty twenty five season for over one thousand fun items
Speaker 10: of choosroom come visit Creative Awards at Creative awardsaz dot
Speaker 10: com or see our Idea Center at twenty eight Westrackman Street.
Speaker 11: At Nova home Loans, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity
Speaker 11: to enjoy the independence that comes with home ownership. Paul
Speaker 11: Volpi is ready to help you find an option that
Speaker 11: best fits your needs. Whether you're a first time or
Speaker 11: veteran home buyer or want to get cash out with
Speaker 11: the refinance. Nova has a variety of home loan programs
Speaker 11: to meet your unique situation. Visit voltpeteam dot com, that's
Speaker 11: volpe team dot com or call five to two oh
Speaker 11: six eight five six two six today in MLS three
Speaker 11: oh eight seven Arizonna be K nine two nine to
Speaker 11: four two Equal Housing Opportunity, how to commitment to lindrixon
Speaker 11: credit rates and available loan programs of subject to change.
Speaker 2: Don't notice? Did you know?
Speaker 10: Collecting sports cards is one of the fastest growing hobbies around.
Speaker 10: Whether you're looking at chart or expand your collection, showtime
Speaker 10: cards is your ultimate destination. As one of the leading
Speaker 10: card shops in the country. We've been serving our community
Speaker 10: for over twenty five years with the best in sports
Speaker 10: cards and trading card games. From rare fines to the
Speaker 10: latest releases, Showtime Cards has it all. Check them out
Speaker 10: at Showtimecards dot Com or visit them on e Speedway
Speaker 10: and discover why collectors everywhere trust Showtime Cards for their passion.
Speaker 12: On a road trip or just around town, driving a
Speaker 12: car you can afford is more important than ever.
Speaker 4: At Pyramid Federal.
Speaker 12: Credit Union, our one rate auto.
Speaker 13: Loan is for everyone.
Speaker 12: One rate offers a single competitive rate no matter your
Speaker 12: credit score. You can borrow better with paring it. For
Speaker 12: details or to apply online, visit Pyramid FCU dot com
Speaker 12: slash one Rate. Pyramid Federal Credit Union is an equal
Speaker 12: opportunity lender federally insured by NCUA.
Speaker 8: Got bugs, termites, fees, or rodents, Arizona Pest Control will
Speaker 8: hunt them down. Arizona Pest Control is your complete desert
Speaker 8: pest management specialist. That's can't run or hide from Arizona
Speaker 8: Pest Control. They use only the latest and most technologically
Speaker 8: advanced methods of pest elimination available, which minimizes the effects
Speaker 8: on the environment. Let Arizona Pest Control get rid of
Speaker 8: your bad bugs, termitespees, or rodents serving Tucson and Southern
Speaker 8: Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azpest dot com
Speaker 8: to schedule your free evaluation today.
Speaker 2: Want to build your business better, There's no better place
Speaker 2: than the Arizona Business Networking Conference December tenth to the
Speaker 2: twelfth at Casino del Sol. Meet thirty five premier speakers,
Speaker 2: including newa All American Ricky Huntley, Hall of Fame coach,
Speaker 2: Mike Andrea CEOs and more. Expand your professional network, explore
Speaker 2: new opportunities and learn from industry leaders. Get your tickets
Speaker 2: at Tucson Business Networking dot Com Slash Conference. Once again,
Speaker 2: That's at Tucson Business Networking dot Com Slash Conference.
Speaker 1: This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
Speaker 1: Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio just search I on the Ball.
Speaker 2: Thanks, Key, Hey, welcome back to you. I'm the Ball
Speaker 2: here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, Your
Speaker 2: Jim Monico, who is my co host here?
Speaker 4: Today?
Speaker 2: You joined yourself coach, I haven't agreed time. Yes, yes, coach,
Speaker 2: how are you now? We have on the phone, we
Speaker 2: have Wes Johnson, the Arizona t alon coach, the national champion,
Speaker 2: trianthlont coach. Coach, how are you doing well?
Speaker 3: Doing well?
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me two years in and you win
Speaker 2: the title. I think you're making everybody feel bad at you.
Speaker 4: Obey.
Speaker 3: Well, you know that was that was always the goal.
Speaker 3: It was your two so we made it happen.
Speaker 2: So what what I asked the coaches all the time?
Speaker 2: What was your secret sauce? Athletes coaching, all of the above.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that, you know, the secret sauce was.
Speaker 14: Just having the right culture and the foundation starting in
Speaker 14: year one that that was the priority, just building the.
Speaker 3: Right culture and bringing the right people. And I think
Speaker 3: we did that.
Speaker 14: And you know, the athletes really trust them what they're doing,
Speaker 14: and we have a great relationship and they're they're confident
Speaker 14: and trust what they're doing. And I think when that happens,
Speaker 14: like anything as possible.
Speaker 5: Hey, coach Jim Monico here listen is a is a
Speaker 5: former had football coach in college in an ad. Now's
Speaker 5: the time to ask for that new contract. Yeah, it
Speaker 5: was an amazing job. But hey, that's an amazing job.
Speaker 5: How oh my goodness said two years And I saw
Speaker 5: that on the news and I got to be honest
Speaker 5: with you. The first thing I did I look at
Speaker 5: my wife and I said, they have college triathlon and
Speaker 5: I never knew that.
Speaker 4: But to do that in two years, man, I'll tell
Speaker 4: you what.
Speaker 5: Let me ask you, because they keep asking me about
Speaker 5: all this coaching stuff. Do you think you had the
Speaker 5: best athletes for the best people that you coached?
Speaker 14: I mean, I would say best people, because you know what,
Speaker 14: there was some There was one girl.
Speaker 15: On the team that switched from swimming at the UFA
Speaker 15: swim team, so like she hasn't been in Tratholic for
Speaker 15: a year and she was second in the Like she's
Speaker 15: she's one of those special people, this unicorns, you know,
Speaker 15: that you that you find.
Speaker 14: But she We've just really put a lot of time
Speaker 14: into development. We have some amazing athletes as well, some
Speaker 14: of you know. We have the number one athlete out
Speaker 14: of Europe last year that joined the team. So obviously
Speaker 14: we have some really good talent, but we also are
Speaker 14: just really developing these people and they're just amazing, amazing people.
Speaker 3: So we've got something special going on for sure here?
Speaker 5: No, definitely, and you set that and you set the tone.
Speaker 5: So take some credit yourself. You set the tone and
Speaker 5: that's what people follow is a great leader.
Speaker 3: No, thank you.
Speaker 2: So you talked to you mentioned the word development. I
Speaker 2: think that some of the best coaches are that, right.
Speaker 2: You bring in talented players who still need seasoning. How
Speaker 2: do you do it here? You got three genres to
Speaker 2: get through. And I understand you have a lot of
Speaker 2: international or a few international players or athletes.
Speaker 14: Yeah, the majority is actually international, and then we've got
Speaker 14: some of the best Americans that are from the US
Speaker 14: also on the team. You know, It's just it's it's
Speaker 14: a really big sport in Europe.
Speaker 3: It's it's like a mainstream sport.
Speaker 14: When I was at the Junior World Championships, there was
Speaker 14: half a million spectators on the streets that all know
Speaker 14: the sport and just going crazy, and so it's it's
Speaker 14: like it's mainstream out there, just like football and basketball
Speaker 14: is here. So it's it's huge. So, yeah, we've got
Speaker 14: really international squad. But I think I missed that. I
Speaker 14: forgot the first question you asked, So.
Speaker 2: Did I because I'd be too old. But let me
Speaker 2: tell you something, so you win the national title, and
Speaker 2: the things I hear are okay, he was a national title,
Speaker 2: but we beat the issue.
Speaker 11: You this them off.
Speaker 2: That's I mean, that was that was like frushing on
Speaker 2: the cake.
Speaker 3: It was you know, they've they've won.
Speaker 14: Actually, so it's been an ensibly sport now for I
Speaker 14: think nine years or eight some of somewhere around there,
Speaker 14: and as U has won the last seven years.
Speaker 2: How did they think so well, how did they get
Speaker 2: to be that power?
Speaker 14: You know with starting when when they first started like
Speaker 14: eight years ago, you know, they were the first big,
Speaker 14: big school to announce, and so everybody wanted to go there,
Speaker 14: right it was the it was.
Speaker 3: The place to it was the place to go.
Speaker 14: So they had, you know, all the best athletes go there,
Speaker 14: and so ever since every that's been the place that
Speaker 14: people have always wanted to go. The best athletes go there,
Speaker 14: and that's just how it is. And so now you know,
Speaker 14: we're coming in and we're challenging that. And there's there's
Speaker 14: another school, Queen's, which of which a lot of people
Speaker 14: don't know of, but they're really they've been in the
Speaker 14: sports from the beginning as well, so they've they were
Speaker 14: third in Nationals. So they were second last year. So
Speaker 14: they've always been there and they're they're really established program
Speaker 14: and they have they have a good program that a
Speaker 14: s U has been the coveted place for people athletes
Speaker 14: all over the world have wanted to go. And so
Speaker 14: now we've we've were really challenging that. And and you know,
Speaker 14: I came in that first year, even the first day
Speaker 14: on the job, I remember sitting in the athletic Director's
Speaker 14: office saying, we're going to win a year two and
Speaker 14: and I text that text that person, you know, the
Speaker 14: day we won, and it was like we both remember
Speaker 14: that conversation.
Speaker 3: You know, so it was incredible.
Speaker 2: Were you sitting here kind of like with a chess
Speaker 2: Shire cat, you know, kind of I got a plan.
Speaker 2: I got a plan, and I know what that plan is,
Speaker 2: go to Europe, go to do all these things. You
Speaker 2: must have had a plan to get this stump work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 14: I before this job, Ian, I was working more on
Speaker 14: the Olympic side, like getting athletes to Olympics and for
Speaker 14: a lot of different countries. I was really pretty well
Speaker 14: connected all over the world with a lot of the
Speaker 14: coaches and the national federations, and you know, I've been
Speaker 14: a part of that, so I've already kind of proven
Speaker 14: that I can do that and developed those athletes. So
Speaker 14: you know, being able to talk that talk helped. But
Speaker 14: now I think we're showing that we're walking the walk
Speaker 14: as well. We're proving it that we can do it.
Speaker 14: And now we want to prove that athletes coming through
Speaker 14: ency to BLA can also get to the Olympic Games.
Speaker 14: And so that's what I want to show in LA
Speaker 14: twenty twenty eight and beyond.
Speaker 3: Is the athletes.
Speaker 14: This is the pipeline towards the top, and that's that's
Speaker 14: my big goal.
Speaker 5: So you know, coach, I was going to ask you
Speaker 5: if you basically answered it, but I was going to
Speaker 5: ask you if where golf has become such an international
Speaker 5: sport here in college? Right a lot of guys, yeah,
Speaker 5: and ladies are coming from Europe. Does that help to
Speaker 5: have a lot of international students in other sports? But
Speaker 5: you're very connected to begin with, but does it help
Speaker 5: to build that culture to make them feel welcome? That
Speaker 5: I mean, when I would recruit kids from Hawaii, you know,
Speaker 5: you took a bunch of them because they're like US Italians.
Speaker 5: We travel all over together. And you know it made
Speaker 5: them feel more comfortable. Did that help at all having
Speaker 5: a good international feel on campus?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it does.
Speaker 14: They've got a good culture here at the university for
Speaker 14: for international students and athletes, you know, the whole committee
Speaker 14: that welcomes you know, diversity and and and so so
Speaker 14: I think they feel really well connected here for that
Speaker 14: and really well supported.
Speaker 4: That helps us great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does help me.
Speaker 14: Yeah, yeah, you know, and a lot of the athletes
Speaker 14: within the whole athletics department, there's I think every one
Speaker 14: of them have at least another athlete from their country, right,
Speaker 14: you know, from another team, and so so that I
Speaker 14: think that's really fun and that helps a lot.
Speaker 2: You know, coach, we live in a world where you
Speaker 2: win one uh you know, you sell, you sell, you
Speaker 2: sell eight cars one month, you know what's expected the
Speaker 2: next month, ten cars. So you win one national title. Uh,
Speaker 2: they're already talking about dos probably.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 14: Well, you know, the sighting thing is that everybody that
Speaker 14: that scored in this last race, because you score the
Speaker 14: top five and all five of them after this year,
Speaker 14: they still have two years of eligibility. So and then
Speaker 14: we're only bringing in more and even just as good
Speaker 14: or better talent moving forward. So that's yeah, that that
Speaker 14: expectation is definitely felt. But I feel like it's.
Speaker 3: Very realistic and reasonable to continue this.
Speaker 2: So you make this promise to the former probably a
Speaker 2: d who we all know what is, mister Hecketh. That's
Speaker 2: the case. You don't have to say yes or no.
Speaker 2: But but what gave you that, what gave you that
Speaker 2: confidence or whatever that that who's spot or whatever the
Speaker 2: word is, because that's a pretty good claim.
Speaker 14: I've been coaching for a long time and and you know,
Speaker 14: travelin is just a sport I'm really passionate about and
Speaker 14: understand well. And I you know, I followed n C
Speaker 14: double A and I can see I could see.
Speaker 3: What it would take. And you know, and I knew
Speaker 3: if we brought you the right athlete and you know.
Speaker 14: Really supported them and all the resources that we have
Speaker 14: here at the University of Arizona and really built that
Speaker 14: foundational strong culture, I was, I'm like, there's no reason
Speaker 14: why we can't win in here two. And I've I've
Speaker 14: been you know that my whole career. I've kind of
Speaker 14: like before in twenty eleven, I think it.
Speaker 3: Was I used a long time ago.
Speaker 14: I lived in Brazil for a few years, and when
Speaker 14: it was announced Olympics we're going to be in Rio,
Speaker 14: I was like, oh, I'm going to be there, but
Speaker 14: as an athlete or a coach.
Speaker 3: And then you know, I was like, I don't know
Speaker 3: how I'm gonna get there, but let gonna get there.
Speaker 14: And then I ended up being a national team coach
Speaker 14: for the Paralympics actually in Rio and sept for a triathlon.
Speaker 3: So I was like, I can. I liked having these.
Speaker 14: Visions and then I just go after that goal and
Speaker 14: after that vision, after that dream, and like relentlessly go
Speaker 14: for it. And it was high integrity and that's just
Speaker 14: you know, how I do things and operate. And if
Speaker 14: I just really believe that it's possible, I think it is.
Speaker 14: You know, I think we we have we have to
Speaker 14: believe it's possible. And so that's after the first couple
Speaker 14: of weeks of the season, it was like, man, this
Speaker 14: team is special. So we started a mantra with the
Speaker 14: team of what we said every day we had cheers
Speaker 14: every day was why not me? Why not us? You know,
Speaker 14: this is our second year. People wouldn't expect us, but
Speaker 14: why not us? And so every day we we you know,
Speaker 14: one person yelled why not mean then the whole team
Speaker 14: yelled why not us?
Speaker 3: And we did that all the way through.
Speaker 14: So the national morning of the right day, we did
Speaker 14: that and then you know, finish the race, we all
Speaker 14: did it again and we did it.
Speaker 3: You know, so.
Speaker 14: It all it's just amazing that it all came together.
Speaker 14: We're just we're just still riding that high right now.
Speaker 2: How did how did had you led up to that?
Speaker 2: Because I'm sure you just didn't come on the scene
Speaker 2: and win the thing. You must have had some meets
Speaker 2: where you said, oh this, or they must have said no, Arizona,
Speaker 2: look at Arizona, Look how they're doing, and then they
Speaker 2: eventually one.
Speaker 14: Thing I think just seeing them in training and just
Speaker 14: you know, we started the year with a training camp
Speaker 14: at the Olympic Training Center in California in Chula Vista,
Speaker 14: and so just see and that was like the like
Speaker 14: the first week after they all arrived, and I was like,
Speaker 14: and just seeing how they all got along together, It's
Speaker 14: like it's just like they already knew each other their
Speaker 14: entire lives.
Speaker 3: It was, you know, wow.
Speaker 14: And then just seeing them train and we did a
Speaker 14: lot of physiological testing and seeing where they're at, I'm like,
Speaker 14: oh my gosh, if we can develop this even a
Speaker 14: little more, this this is going to be incredible.
Speaker 3: And and then.
Speaker 14: Like why not, Like there's no reason why we shouldn't
Speaker 14: win this year, you know, right, And so see I've
Speaker 14: really just seen them the first couple of weeks. I'm like, wow,
Speaker 14: this is this is really possible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so maybe last question, Uh so you have a
Speaker 2: one of course, what makes a good translete because you
Speaker 2: have to be good at all three or maybe two
Speaker 2: or three? Or how does one become pretty good at this?
Speaker 14: Yeah, you know, to be the best at it, you
Speaker 14: really have to be pretty good at all three. You know,
Speaker 14: it's normal to have one of them a little stronger than
Speaker 14: the other two. But yeah, I mean you have to
Speaker 14: you have to develop all of them. But you know,
Speaker 14: we look at the beginning of the year where the
Speaker 14: strengths and weaknesses are. And it's really a team sport,
Speaker 14: you know, because unlike there's a big drafting component on
Speaker 14: the swimming and the biking, so they're drafting. So we
Speaker 14: have you know, we can have a lot of team
Speaker 14: strategy of like we want you to stay on this
Speaker 14: person's seat in the water, that person's faster than you,
Speaker 14: so you need to draft up them in the swim.
Speaker 14: And then getting out of the water, we want, you know,
Speaker 14: you to stay on this athlete bike on the wheel,
Speaker 14: so you're drafting behind them because you can probably run
Speaker 14: faster than the person in front of you, to let
Speaker 14: them do more of the work and then get off
Speaker 14: the bike and with a little fresher.
Speaker 3: Legs and go for the for the wind, you know.
Speaker 14: And so there's there's a lot of team tactics and
Speaker 14: and so it's it's all about you know, thinking through
Speaker 14: starting the season, like where where can we develop the most,
Speaker 14: you know, And and with running, you know, you can
Speaker 14: only do so much, you know without getting injured and
Speaker 14: doing it right.
Speaker 3: So we're you know, taking them in August.
Speaker 14: We know we we don't have a lot of time
Speaker 14: to develop their running, so you know, we can really
Speaker 14: develop their swimming and making sure they're without without as
Speaker 14: much injury risk. So we put that time into the
Speaker 14: swim and some of them that are already amazing on
Speaker 14: the swim, you know, we focused.
Speaker 3: On drills and mechanics and all that on.
Speaker 14: The run to get the most out of the running,
Speaker 14: and so it's just all of it's like kind of
Speaker 14: just the uh are you know art piece that we
Speaker 14: just have to get to put it together, you know,
Speaker 14: and it's it's like, okay, with swim, bike run, we
Speaker 14: have this amount of hours in the week to train,
Speaker 14: we want to use it this way and spend it
Speaker 14: in so we're really customizing each individual's programming and training
Speaker 14: to get the most out of that, you know.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, well, thank you coach Wes Johnson, he's
Speaker 2: the triathlon whisperer. Appreciate your time. I know you're meeting
Speaker 2: with the media tomorrow. Good luck and hope to you
Speaker 2: talk to you again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, felt good. I appreciate much. Wow, Yeah, thank you,
Speaker 3: thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: We're going to come right back and take our final
Speaker 2: break here on the other side. You're an Arizona Man's
Speaker 2: basketball fan. You know, it's been successful for nearly forty
Speaker 2: years now. Take a look back at the Ludelsen era.
Speaker 2: In my new book, Lessons from Loot, it was a
Speaker 2: labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players,
Speaker 2: coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and
Speaker 2: the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired
Speaker 2: them twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as
Speaker 2: Arizona's Love Coach. Lessons from Newton is an insight to
Speaker 2: how he built the program into a national powerhouse. What
Speaker 2: one email me a Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at
Speaker 2: gmail dot com.
Speaker 16: Hi, this is formal while get leman huntly with Arizona Health,
Speaker 16: Imagine how home GM can change your health, your comfort,
Speaker 16: and your time. Arizona Health is everything you need to
Speaker 16: transform your personal space and your life. We off a
Speaker 16: complete line of cardio machines, multi gyms, and freeway equipment.
Speaker 16: I'll certify fitness experts and technicians will set you out
Speaker 16: with the right equipment and training to get.
Speaker 2: You started to keep you going.
Speaker 16: Visit our share room today at twenty second in Wilmot
Speaker 16: Arizona Health the lean to edge and exercise equipment.
Speaker 17: What's your goal a new career or career advancement? How
Speaker 17: about transferring to a four year college. PEMA Community College
Speaker 17: can help you make Someday today and reach your goals
Speaker 17: affordably on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to
Speaker 17: choose from and financial daid available, it's time to earn
Speaker 17: the degreer certificate. You need to prepare for the career
Speaker 17: you want. PEMA offers free career exploration classes so you
Speaker 17: can choose the field that's right for you. Learn how
Speaker 17: at Pima dot edu.
Speaker 2: Slash someday, Hey Tucson, Steve rivera heir, and I've got
Speaker 2: a tip for you. Want to be in good hands
Speaker 2: while cruising the desert or kicking back at home, then
Speaker 2: you need to call my friends at the Edmond Markets
Speaker 2: All State Agency. These guys are the MVPs of home
Speaker 2: and auto coverage. Whether it's a fender bender or a
Speaker 2: leaky roof, They've got you covered. Don't fumble your chance
Speaker 2: to say call them today and score big on your insurance.
Speaker 2: With the Edmund Marcus All State Agency, You're always in
Speaker 2: good hands. Visit them at twenty seven nineteen North Campbell
Speaker 2: or call them at five two zero three two three
Speaker 2: nine three three three. Selling your home want to get
Speaker 2: more money for it? Well, Danny Roth can help you.
Speaker 2: He told me about as you Flip the Home you
Speaker 2: Own program. The program allows for a homeowner to fix
Speaker 2: up their home to sell without using any of their
Speaker 2: own money. They will be able to sell the home
Speaker 2: for a much higher price. Danny Roth with Armni Holmes
Speaker 2: International is the real estate consultant in Tucson that offers
Speaker 2: this program. He has consistently been the top agent in
Speaker 2: Tucson for the last thirty years and has sold over
Speaker 2: ten thoy five hundred homes. For more information on this program,
Speaker 2: we're just buying our selling at home, oh Danny Roth
Speaker 2: at five two zero four nine zero four thousand, Tucson.
Speaker 4: Listen up.
Speaker 18: El Tourty two Son is rolling in on November twenty third,
Speaker 18: and you won't want to miss it. Dnahair Conditioning is
Speaker 18: proud to be a sponsor of this fantastic event, supporting
Speaker 18: our cyclists and celebrating the vibrant spirit of our community.
Speaker 18: Huge thanks to our title sponsor Banner University Medicine and
Speaker 18: are presenting sponsors Rio Nuevo and CMC Health for making
Speaker 18: this possible. So are you ready to ride, Grab your
Speaker 18: bikes and your buddies join DNHAC for an unforgettable day
Speaker 18: at the El Tooty Tuson. For more info, check out
Speaker 18: El toour Day two soon dot org.
Speaker 17: El Tourty two Soon is on November twenty third. You
Speaker 17: can help support the kids at Banner Diamond's Children's Medical
Speaker 17: Center in Tucson by joining the Banner Health Team, ride, run,
Speaker 17: or walk any of the routes to make a difference.
Speaker 17: Visit Eltoordy tuson dot org for more.
Speaker 1: Breaking down all the xys and ohs. This is I
Speaker 1: on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to win the Ball here on Fox
Speaker 2: Sports fourteen fifty Scar and Jim Monico. It was good
Speaker 2: to talk to mister west Johnson.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he was good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, he's good. You know why it doesn't
Speaker 2: happen You don't that you don't fall upon stuffing like that.
Speaker 2: You It takes time. And he mentioned development a few times,
Speaker 2: at least two or three times. And that's where coaching is. Yes,
Speaker 2: coaching is is that you're only as good as your
Speaker 2: weak as link, so you have to develop. And he
Speaker 2: talked about that, right, how to improve other people. If
Speaker 2: I'm a bad swimmer or you know, the second swimmer,
Speaker 2: you get the guy in front of you to help
Speaker 2: you out, and YadA YadA. So there's always tricks to stuff,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 5: There's there's always a method, a method. Everybody has their
Speaker 5: own methods. Of how to get the best out of
Speaker 5: the Let.
Speaker 2: Me ask us, so I have you another from maybe
Speaker 2: fourteen twelve minutes. What do you remember your earliest memories
Speaker 2: of sports?
Speaker 4: Sure?
Speaker 2: What year? What?
Speaker 3: How?
Speaker 4: How old you mean playing or going?
Speaker 2: No? No, no, becoming a sports fan as.
Speaker 4: A kid nineteen sixty five atle Pilots Red Sox.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, you grew up in Boston. Yeah, and who's
Speaker 2: playing the Seattle Pilots No so playing on the field,
Speaker 2: Oh god, at Dick Schofield's father hit a home run.
Speaker 2: Jim Longborg was pitching your stremski yea, Oh god, George Scott,
Speaker 2: it was just.
Speaker 4: It was awesome.
Speaker 2: Your dad took you my mother, your mother?
Speaker 4: Wow, my mom was a jock.
Speaker 5: Oh wow, okay, my dad wasn't a real sports guy.
Speaker 5: Matter of fact, he used tell me it was a
Speaker 5: waste of time. Oh wow, immigrant families, Yeah.
Speaker 4: You go to work, right.
Speaker 2: So she was your sports good person.
Speaker 5: Amazing, amazing. She was a hell of an athlete. If
Speaker 5: she'd have grown up in this day and age, she'd
Speaker 5: be playing at softball to u of a. Oh wow, yeah,
Speaker 5: you know, my daughter was doing one of those dumb
Speaker 5: reveal things. I threw a ball to my my grandson,
Speaker 5: and he hit it, and all my cousins wrote back
Speaker 5: and say, hey, he still got a good arm gym,
Speaker 5: but not as good as Auntie Teresa.
Speaker 4: My mother had a cannon and she could throw a
Speaker 4: cup across the.
Speaker 2: Kitchen pretty so she'd take you to the games.
Speaker 4: She did. Never missed a ball game, never missed an
Speaker 4: really used to bum rides. We only had one car.
Speaker 4: She used to bum rides wherever I played. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: she never missed anything.
Speaker 2: Wow, cool, cool? And did you go Did you play ball?
Speaker 2: I did?
Speaker 4: Had I did baseball, baseball, football?
Speaker 2: Okay, I ran track.
Speaker 5: I actually swam for one year and in high school
Speaker 5: to try to loosen up my shoulders a little bit.
Speaker 2: Please tell me you were I played ball too, so
Speaker 2: I was a short stop, second basement. To me, you
Speaker 2: were maybe a third baseman. I played third base because
Speaker 2: you were built like a third basement Bob Horner, like
Speaker 2: a Bob Horner guy.
Speaker 4: Didn't hit like him.
Speaker 2: But you say sturdy, tough, you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I went on played and then
Speaker 5: uh uh when I got to college and was going
Speaker 5: my legs were just trashed. Or did you did you
Speaker 5: try to play in college in the University have and okay,
Speaker 5: recruited me there and then couldn't play, so I was
Speaker 5: my legs were just gone.
Speaker 2: So you just become Joe Schmoeer. What do you call it?
Speaker 2: The Jose?
Speaker 5: I when I was a sophomore year, I said, I'm
Speaker 5: done with college right now, and I became a police
Speaker 5: officer in Houston.
Speaker 4: I was twenty years old and I was a cop
Speaker 4: in Houston.
Speaker 2: In Houston, so you moved from there to there?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What brought you there?
Speaker 4: A woman? They know they were up there.
Speaker 5: Now my wife is she's she's a rich kid, but
Speaker 5: she's from the next city above.
Speaker 4: Okay, they just came up and recruiting.
Speaker 5: Back in Boston, they had a proposition that didn't allow
Speaker 5: to hire and they were actually going to lay off
Speaker 5: cops that had seventy eight years on and Houston was
Speaker 5: begging for cops because everybody was getting killed down there.
Speaker 5: So I went down there and went to the police
Speaker 5: academy and I worked in the fifth Ward for a
Speaker 5: couple of years before I came home and inst.
Speaker 2: So how many years were you the cop?
Speaker 4: Just over twenty?
Speaker 2: Oh? Just yeah, that's I'm sure those days were weird,
Speaker 2: not weird.
Speaker 4: Crazy, different different. It was a different, different time. You
Speaker 4: could do a little bit more.
Speaker 2: And can you can you talk can you talk about
Speaker 2: maybe a scary time you I'm sure you had a
Speaker 2: few loads of them. Yeah, yeah, just you know that
Speaker 2: you didn't know if you're gonna make it home that day.
Speaker 4: Well, in Houston, I got stuck in the chest with
Speaker 4: an ice pick.
Speaker 2: That hurt, but I.
Speaker 6: I had it.
Speaker 5: Well, I was only they wanted you to wear a vest.
Speaker 5: So you know, I had a couple of kids in
Speaker 5: the academy with me that didn't make it out of
Speaker 5: their first year. They got killed. And but so every
Speaker 5: time I wore a vest, something happened. Guy unloaded at
Speaker 5: forty five in my car. One night, I got in
Speaker 5: an accident and broke my rib cage. I was like,
Speaker 5: screw that, I'm not wearing a vest anymore. There were jinks.
Speaker 2: Well, and you didn't after I didn't, nothing else happened.
Speaker 4: A lot of stuff happened.
Speaker 2: But like, uh, I'm sure I said this all the time.
Speaker 2: You know, uh Climber's remorse and this is definitely doesn't
Speaker 2: apply to being a cop. But you know you're half
Speaker 2: you're climbing Mount Everest and you're halfway there and he said,
Speaker 2: what the hell am I doing here doing that? And
Speaker 2: you get up there and you say, God, I can't
Speaker 2: wait to do it again. So were you as a
Speaker 2: cop thinking what the hell am I doing it?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: One night of me and my partner were driving and
Speaker 5: we before the call came out, we pulled up on this,
Speaker 5: for lack of a better term, it's probably like a brownstone,
Speaker 5: which you gotta think of, right, one of those three floors,
Speaker 5: but it had a bunch of apartments in it, and
Speaker 5: it was fire shooting out of it, so we couldn't.
Speaker 5: Back in those days, a lot of the doors they
Speaker 5: would lock, and you know you had a pass key
Speaker 5: or something to get in. Well, we smashed the window.
Speaker 5: We run in and we're just banging on doors telling
Speaker 5: people to get out. Well, the fire department gets there
Speaker 5: and they kick in a door, but they kick in
Speaker 5: the door where the fire started, and it was a
Speaker 5: bunch of mattresses and the smoke just drills us. And
Speaker 5: I'm trying to get air and I'm out a window
Speaker 5: and this guy jumps right past me and falls three
Speaker 5: floors and he's in the hospital. Anyway, it was we
Speaker 5: almost pass out and they drag us out and We're
Speaker 5: laying in a snow bank, and I'm thinking I was
Speaker 5: talking like Mickey Mouse for about a week and a
Speaker 5: half smoke, and uh it was I thought, man, I
Speaker 5: don't think I ever want to do that again.
Speaker 2: So twenty years in and then you said, okay, I've
Speaker 2: had enough.
Speaker 4: No, they told me I had enough.
Speaker 5: I told you then then on and then I just
Speaker 5: went back to school and and I had got my
Speaker 5: bachelor's degree, and I just said, you know what, I've
Speaker 5: always been coaching. I've always coached. So I've always coached
Speaker 5: as a police officer. I started here and I was
Speaker 5: at Catalina High School in ninety when I got here,
Speaker 5: and so I so I'd always coached football and baseball.
Speaker 4: High school.
Speaker 2: That's when they started it, right, didn't Catlina?
Speaker 5: No, No, that's that's Catalina High schoolthills a. Catalina High
Speaker 5: School was being torn down and Chuck McCollum game me
Speaker 5: my first job over there, and he was awesome. And uh,
Speaker 5: we had no kids. We had no kids, and those
Speaker 5: kids they didn't come from anything. My god, it was sure.
Speaker 5: I used to call a little Bay route over there,
Speaker 5: because there were shootings behind the school all the time.
Speaker 4: Wo and uh.
Speaker 5: But I'd always done that, so I said, you know
Speaker 5: what they they had said, here's your retirement and if
Speaker 5: you want, you can never work again, and we give
Speaker 5: you this much money. Or you scored so high on
Speaker 5: your test, you go back to school. So I went
Speaker 5: back and got two master's degrees and.
Speaker 4: Started. Coach Scurring brought me.
Speaker 2: On, how did that? How did that first meeting go?
Speaker 2: And how did that's?
Speaker 13: We only have a few minutes, all right, so I'll
Speaker 13: give you this. I'll tell you truth, all right, but
Speaker 13: I'll keep it g rated. You know, Coach Karrn had
Speaker 13: a lot of ballplayers at Sabino, and you know we
Speaker 13: played them and I got I couldn't stand Jeff, right,
Speaker 13: I'm like playing Sabino. They got nineteen freaking Division one
Speaker 13: athletes and I got one hundred and fifty two pound guard,
Speaker 13: and so yeah, it got crazy. But on his staff
Speaker 13: he had another coach, Jeff Green, who always coached with them,
Speaker 13: who was an amazing, amazing offensive line coach and coach
Speaker 13: with Bo Scham Beckler and and just Jim Young and
Speaker 13: the whole gambit and he kind of talked to Jeff
Speaker 13: and and Jeff brought me on and that that's really
Speaker 13: where I started to learn how to run a college program.
Speaker 13: Before I have it became a high school head coach.
Speaker 13: Because when coach brings you on, just like with players,
Speaker 13: when he brings you on, he expects you to do
Speaker 13: a job. You know, he's not gonna hold you in. Sure,
Speaker 13: he's going to help you out, but do your job.
Speaker 5: And uh, I got an opportunity to learn an incredible
Speaker 5: amount about coaching.
Speaker 2: You and you guys obviously are very close, or I
Speaker 2: would assume so. Uh, it's a little nice older fraternity.
Speaker 4: He's coach Scurren's tree, right, he don't have a tree.
Speaker 4: You got a forest?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, And uh, he's turned out a lot
Speaker 5: of head coaches and and it's kind of cool because
Speaker 5: a lot of the people that I had at Pima
Speaker 5: now head coaches. Kind Of I get a little feel
Speaker 5: like I might be a small bush. You know, maybe
Speaker 5: I'm an oly end. He's a he's a tree.
Speaker 4: Can you can?
Speaker 2: And this is a this is a bias question from
Speaker 2: your end. And how many coaches, maybe you've had a number,
Speaker 2: who are the good ones? And they're going to tell
Speaker 2: me all of you mean that I've worked for, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I worked with or whatever. You know, you you could
Speaker 2: say Nugents. We know about Nugent's diligence and his you know, preparation.
Speaker 5: Chuck McCullum was one of the best film breakers I've
Speaker 5: ever worked with. So I took you know, as a cop,
Speaker 5: I learned as a young twenty year old cop, don't
Speaker 5: model yourself after a police officer a person. Model yourself
Speaker 5: after a bunch of them. Find out what each person
Speaker 5: does well, and try to do what they do right.
Speaker 5: So I did that, and you know, Chuck was one
Speaker 5: of I mean, he could break film with the best
Speaker 5: of them, right. And then I worked with NeiMa Hassee
Speaker 5: and Hassee was an offensive guy him and Ethan Hurley
Speaker 5: and worked with them. And then when I get over
Speaker 5: to to work with with Coach Scurrin, you know he
Speaker 5: had Yeah, Mike Sangster, who is a defensive coordinator who's
Speaker 5: it was a genius at stuff, and Keith Graham at
Speaker 5: defensive secondary.
Speaker 4: So what you lacked in knowledge, Yeah, I was alignment.
Speaker 4: I've always been aligned.
Speaker 5: Coach I had to expand in order to become that
Speaker 5: head coach, so I would sit in defensive back meetings
Speaker 5: when I at the time, you have to learn your weaknesses.
Speaker 2: Right, you have to.
Speaker 5: We're talking about and and you know nuge was the
Speaker 5: same way Pat brought me back in and and did
Speaker 5: I mean, I've just I've learned from everybody I've and
Speaker 5: I've learned from my assistant coaches, you know, because when
Speaker 5: when you know it all, you know nothing right, So
Speaker 5: you're right, you've got to be open to ideas.
Speaker 2: Now now that you talk about it. Because we talked
Speaker 2: about Screw and he was on the show a while back,
Speaker 2: and I've known him for a long time, not not closely,
Speaker 2: but you know, we've know who doesn't know Jeff. But
Speaker 2: the thing that I think that made him a success
Speaker 2: is he knows how to manage you guys, and you
Speaker 2: know and and he he can convince you to do
Speaker 2: what you don't think you're capable of.
Speaker 8: Do I have it?
Speaker 2: Do I have it? You do without really knowing who
Speaker 2: is But I noticed that when he was in the
Speaker 2: show here people gave me so long I guess the
Speaker 2: Jeff Skurrin Show. But he has these ideas. You're thinking,
Speaker 2: what does this guy come up with this crap and
Speaker 2: then it's like, then you go home, that's pretty good crap.
Speaker 5: Look, I've said to him a couple of times, I said,
Speaker 5: you know, it's uh, it gets hard as you get
Speaker 5: older to admit you were wrong. And there's been several
Speaker 5: things he has said that. When I was a young
Speaker 5: coach with him right going back, I wasn't that young,
Speaker 5: but you know, twenty five years ago, he would say
Speaker 5: me all the time, jim Jimmy. He calls me Jimmy.
Speaker 5: Him and my mother and my wife the only ones
Speaker 5: who call me Jimmy. Hey, Jimmy, you're going to be
Speaker 5: a really good coach someday when you learn how to
Speaker 5: be a teacher. I used to walk out there, and
Speaker 5: I know what he's saying. He's right, until you learn
Speaker 5: how to teach, not everybody can learn the same way.
Speaker 5: And I would say to them all the time, you know, coach,
Speaker 5: I was wrong and I just was. You know, you
Speaker 5: get you get too caught up in yourself sometimes. Ago
Speaker 5: I need to take a little bit deeper look inside.
Speaker 2: Right, right, Jim. It was appreciated, very very happy to
Speaker 2: have you here. Appreciate you very much. You got to
Speaker 2: come back.
Speaker 4: I we'll think about it gets better.
Speaker 2: Everybody talks about that page. That's why, Jay lest.
Speaker 4: I'm on a fixed income. Now, I gotta figure out.
Speaker 2: I'm sure it's fixed nicely now.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 5: You guys have always been amazing to me, and and
Speaker 5: and Pima and then the places we've worked in, our
Speaker 5: coaches and athletes.
Speaker 4: I can't thank you.
Speaker 2: And well, thank you. We appreciate you. And thanks guys.
Speaker 2: We got through this. We did okay.