Speaker 1: You're listening to Airy Bros.
Speaker 2: Radio, be there or B Square because it's all killer,
Speaker 2: no filler.
Speaker 1: This is Nick Polk and you're listening to Airy Brothers Radio.
Speaker 3: We have another exciting episode with a great guests coming
Speaker 3: back for an indoor coach, A track coach, across country
Speaker 3: coach is joining us tonight. Nick Polk from Lipscomb University,
Speaker 3: director of Track and Field and cross Countries with us tonight,
Speaker 3: so we're excited to get into that. But before we
Speaker 3: do that, please give us a follow on YouTube. If
Speaker 3: you're not already following, make sure you check Coach Polk
Speaker 3: socials and all that stuff with Lipscomb when we give
Speaker 3: those out. And if you're following on Spotify or any
Speaker 3: other podcast platform, if you'd be so kind to leave
Speaker 3: us rating and a review. And as always, you know,
Speaker 3: Jimmy and I love our coffee, so if you click
Speaker 3: on that link to Bias of Coffee, we would be
Speaker 3: greatly appreciated. If you're getting any value out of anything
Speaker 3: we're doing over here, by all means, throw a little
Speaker 3: love back and give us a little value as well.
Speaker 3: All right with that set? As I said, Nick Poulk
Speaker 3: is joining of this joining US this evening. He is
Speaker 3: the director of cross country in track and Field at
Speaker 3: Lipscomb University. He's been there since twenty nineteen. Under his leadership,
Speaker 3: Lipscomb has produced three NCAA Division One All Americans and
Speaker 3: three athletes have broken four minutes in the mile, including
Speaker 3: the first ever sub four minute indoor mile. Fairly recently,
Speaker 3: coaches also led the women's cross country team to their
Speaker 3: first NCAA Division one National cross country appearance in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty three, where they finished eleventh, and they returned this
Speaker 3: year as well, finishing twenty third. Also, coach has been
Speaker 3: a four time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year. His
Speaker 3: teams have claimed three consecutive Attic Sun Conference titles and
Speaker 3: earned fifty three postseason honors. Before he was at Lipscomb,
Speaker 3: coach has extensive experience with USA Track and Field, where
Speaker 3: he managed high performance program globally, and his coaching background
Speaker 3: includes multiple NCAA titles and All Americans at Grand Valley
Speaker 3: State and Elon, and coach was also an All American
Speaker 3: at Grand Valley State as well. Coach Nick Polkatt is
Speaker 3: an honor and a pleasure to have you join us
Speaker 3: for an episode of aery Bros. Radio. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3: How are you doing this evening?
Speaker 1: Good? Yeah, thanks guys, appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: Absolutely is honor and a pleasure. So coach, before we
Speaker 3: get too far into the episode, you know, we have
Speaker 3: coaches from junior college that are fans. We have parents
Speaker 3: and athletes that are fans. Any recruits anywhere you want
Speaker 3: the recruits or parents or coaches that are trying to
Speaker 3: connect with you, maybe get a Aery Bros. Pipeline down
Speaker 3: there at Nashville, the Flora Yours.
Speaker 1: Yeah. On social mostly what I look at is our
Speaker 1: Instagram and that's just lipscum x C TF so l
Speaker 1: I P s c O M b x c t
Speaker 1: F and I probably I think I have my own,
Speaker 1: but I never I haven't updated since probably maybe a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. And so that's how I look.
Speaker 1: That's how we get. We get in contact with a
Speaker 1: lot of people, either on Instagram or Twitter probably are
Speaker 1: the two best ways. And yeah, we're pretty coaches are
Speaker 1: pretty easy to find, I think in cross country track.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've been talking about how the the landscape of
Speaker 3: recruiting has changed so much since when you know, we
Speaker 3: were in school where you know, we get excited to
Speaker 3: get a phone call from from a coach and you
Speaker 3: drop what you're doing to take that phone call, and
Speaker 3: it seems like that that isn't really a thing that
Speaker 3: much these days. Maybe you got to send some text
Speaker 3: messages before you can get that phone call. But it's
Speaker 3: it's interesting how things have changed.
Speaker 1: And yeah, because it used to be used to not
Speaker 1: be able to do that. I've been coaching long enough
Speaker 1: to remember when you couldn't do that. It just didn't
Speaker 1: make any sense at all. Like if a kid was
Speaker 1: on campus and you wanted to say where are you? You
Speaker 1: had to call them, you know, and and so that's
Speaker 1: evolved so much. But yeah, it makes it makes life
Speaker 1: a lot easier to be able to utilize technology.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I always say it's the best thing and
Speaker 3: the worst thing we have going for us right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, especially like I know that's part
Speaker 1: of the topic for you guys too, is just like
Speaker 1: when you're a smaller school and you don't have that
Speaker 1: like notoriety of a football game on Saturday. Social media is,
Speaker 1: you know, can be it's your branding, it's your way
Speaker 1: that its can see what are your colors or what
Speaker 1: your uniforms look like or you know, it just they
Speaker 1: wouldn't know a whole lot about us without it. So
Speaker 1: it's it's it is kind of vital to what we do.
Speaker 3: Go Bison. Yeah, right, So coach, as we get into
Speaker 3: one of the first things we like to always start
Speaker 3: off with coaches is, you know, Jimmy and I have
Speaker 3: an origin story, how we got into athletics, how we
Speaker 3: got into coaching. So curious. You're originally from Indiana, I
Speaker 3: believe correct, Yeah, what's your origin story as an athlete?
Speaker 3: And then how did that being an athlete, being getting
Speaker 3: into running, how did that lead into coaching?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was Okay high school athlete and got recruited
Speaker 1: by my college coach, Jerry Baltis at Grand Valley State.
Speaker 1: He was from Indiana. Then I think it just we
Speaker 1: just had a kind of good connection and it wasn't
Speaker 1: as hard probably back then as it is now. And
Speaker 1: so we went up to Grand Valley and had a
Speaker 1: good experience there. And then I had no intention of
Speaker 1: like coaching. I actually didn't. I didn't want to do
Speaker 1: that at all, but I love sports, and so I like,
Speaker 1: I did an intern internship at Nike when I was
Speaker 1: in college. I got really lucky to do that. And
Speaker 1: then when I graduated college, I worked at Nike for
Speaker 1: a little bit, and then when I was there, I
Speaker 1: just I still realized like I still wanted to run,
Speaker 1: so I kind of was heading down that kind of
Speaker 1: corporate path, and like at lunch, I would go out
Speaker 1: and I would see Alberto Salazar and Galen Rup at
Speaker 1: the track and just kind of hover off in the
Speaker 1: distance and ask them what's going on and see if
Speaker 1: I could run with them and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So even though I was like kind of starting a
Speaker 1: dream job situation, I still kind of had that itch
Speaker 1: to run. And so while I was doing that, I
Speaker 1: just trained the whole time. And I ended up being
Speaker 1: able to join a group called Zapp Fitness in North
Speaker 1: Carolina to continue training, and so kind of left Nike.
Speaker 1: Did the professional running thing for about two years, and
Speaker 1: I would just hurt a bunch. I think I had
Speaker 1: something like nine stress fractures and I earned college and
Speaker 1: then like two kind of big ones when I was
Speaker 1: running posts collegiately, and so that was kind of like
Speaker 1: I knew my running days were over, and so I
Speaker 1: figured I'd probably transition back to you know, Nike or
Speaker 1: something in that kind of sports world. And then my
Speaker 1: college coach just he was really good at recruiting and
Speaker 1: recruited me to come take over like the assistant coaching
Speaker 1: job there with him. So I didn't want to do it.
Speaker 1: He called me and you know, it was like we
Speaker 1: have we have He almost like told me, okay, you're
Speaker 1: doing this. And then a couple of days later we
Speaker 1: hadn't talked, and he's like, so, like, are you taking
Speaker 1: this or you know, like he had a follow up
Speaker 1: with me, like he didn't even know if I said yes,
Speaker 1: And I'm not even sure I said yes. But a
Speaker 1: couple of days later I was coaching. And it took
Speaker 1: me like a year or two to enjoy it, I think,
Speaker 1: and and just kind of like, yeah, maybe kind of
Speaker 1: blaze my own path in it, and uh but yeah,
Speaker 1: I just had a good experience doing it, just kind
Speaker 1: of kept getting better and better. Yeah, just kind of
Speaker 1: I kind of realized that's all I think I wanted
Speaker 1: to do at that point, was just be involved with
Speaker 1: young people and be on a campus and all that.
Speaker 2: So, coach, I want to address how coaching stuck with you.
Speaker 2: But you mentioned in turning at Nike spending time up there, Curious,
Speaker 2: do you still wear Nike?
Speaker 1: No, We're an under armored school, so I'm pretty much
Speaker 1: much by this time, you know, you just wear I
Speaker 1: just wear whatever free clothes I get. I don't all
Speaker 1: run my own clothes, so pretty much that, but I'll
Speaker 1: still wear yeah, some stuff. But the last two schools
Speaker 1: I've been at were under armour, so I just have, like,
Speaker 1: you know, so much of that going on.
Speaker 2: And being that you spend time in Oregon for that internship. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so Ridge feel free to jump in because I don't
Speaker 2: know the name. But did you get to run on
Speaker 2: that track that's like got a force in the middle? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. That was on the campus. So that's where
Speaker 1: I'd like sneak out at lunch or before work or
Speaker 1: after work because that's when there was like the Nike
Speaker 1: organ Project and Bauerman was there and so there's always
Speaker 1: you know, fast runners out running. That was who I
Speaker 1: kind of wanted to be, and so yeah, I was
Speaker 1: out there as much as I could be.
Speaker 2: That is amazing because, like Rich said, we grew up
Speaker 2: as our dad had this thing like if you're going
Speaker 2: to be a wrestler, you're going to be a runner,
Speaker 2: You're gonna know about it, You're gonna.
Speaker 3: Know the history.
Speaker 2: So we grew up like in our bathroom, like we
Speaker 2: had all the old runners world and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: so we would like I would see stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So the fact that you got to spend time and
Speaker 2: sneak out for your launch break, I am envious of
Speaker 2: you in that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the dream, Like just to be able
Speaker 1: to do that and like live off your running and
Speaker 1: make a career out of it or whatever. You know.
Speaker 1: I think I was really just trying to find at
Speaker 1: that time, like how do I do this and make
Speaker 1: money and make it sustainable and all that, And I
Speaker 1: wasn't fast enough or durable enough to do it. But
Speaker 1: I'm like I've been able to thankfully do that since
Speaker 1: then for a career.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned going back to Grand Valley and being
Speaker 2: an assistant coach there, but you weren't sure. You weren't
Speaker 2: sure what did you have a moment did you have
Speaker 2: an athlete something that kind of stuck and you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I can change lives, I can make an impact here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. And I think one of the
Speaker 1: things I always struggled with was like as an athlete,
Speaker 1: it's a selfish endeavor. You know. It's like you have
Speaker 1: to like you know, you know, hanging out with friends
Speaker 1: all the time, and you know, people aren't to go
Speaker 1: on vacations and you're not going, and you didn't have
Speaker 1: a lot of money. So like I was just getting
Speaker 1: to that point I think where I was, like my
Speaker 1: friends were making money at that time and they could
Speaker 1: go on vacation together and you know, or like you know,
Speaker 1: buy a nice car or whatever it would be. And
Speaker 1: like I just knew coaching was was some of that,
Speaker 1: like you're giving away your I would say, you're like
Speaker 1: that selfishness or like ability to grow yourself and you
Speaker 1: just take that and you put it into other people.
Speaker 1: And I think that took me a little while to
Speaker 1: realize like probably how selfish I was as an athlete
Speaker 1: in person, you know, and then as you get into coaching,
Speaker 1: you just give a lot of yourself to other people.
Speaker 1: That's like your time, your energy, you know, at that
Speaker 1: as an assistant coach and not making a lot of
Speaker 1: money and all that. So I think it just took
Speaker 1: me a little while to enjoy investing in other people
Speaker 1: when you probably spend like most of your life through
Speaker 1: college investing in yourself, you know, and so I think
Speaker 1: that's probably what took me the most to like. And
Speaker 1: then once you kind of recruit somebody and you make
Speaker 1: them better and you can kind of see like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm like helping somebody grow. I think that for me,
Speaker 1: it's kind of started to click, you know, that it
Speaker 1: wasn't about me, it was about investing in other people. Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, we talked to a lot of coaches and
Speaker 3: Damian Han as a Division one wrestling coach South Dakota State.
Speaker 3: He's from our home area, and he says, you know,
Speaker 3: you have two kinds of coaches and coaches that are
Speaker 3: in it because they're trying to build up their resume
Speaker 3: and they want to win because they want to win.
Speaker 3: And then they have coaches that are really in it
Speaker 3: for the development of the individual and the betterment of
Speaker 3: the human and making you know, better athletes, but better
Speaker 3: humans and better better people that are going to be
Speaker 3: productive in society. And I think that's when I first
Speaker 3: started coaching. I was probably that first guy that was like,
Speaker 3: I want I want kids to run fast because it's
Speaker 3: going to make me look good now at you know,
Speaker 3: forty eight seem to be forty nine. It's like, well,
Speaker 3: I want you to still doing this when you're my age.
Speaker 3: I want you to be running like I'm still runner.
Speaker 3: I want you to enjoy it. I want it to
Speaker 3: be a lifelong passion and something you really enjoy doing.
Speaker 3: Like it'd be great if you run fast, you know,
Speaker 3: but I'm really here to make you a better human.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, And I think that's something that you
Speaker 1: struggle with because it does feel good to make somebody
Speaker 1: run fast, like internally, but if you know, and it's
Speaker 1: something I mean a bigger conversation, but I fear with
Speaker 1: like where Division one is heading, is that it just
Speaker 1: becomes so transactional that you lose that like the growth
Speaker 1: of the person and the development. And you know, I
Speaker 1: grew I was an Okay high school runner, Division two
Speaker 1: college runner, so definitely experience like that growth. And none
Speaker 1: of us did it for like a big scholarship or
Speaker 1: fame or something like that. So I think, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's in me, and I have to try to
Speaker 1: like guard myself against turning into so like that guy,
Speaker 1: you know, the guy that is just out for results.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would imagine it's fairly can be a challenge
Speaker 3: at the Division one level, and we'll get into some
Speaker 3: of those other things that you were talking about in
Speaker 3: a little bit Curious is that fitness those guys they
Speaker 3: were based out of North Carolina. Is that what made
Speaker 3: the Elon connection or was that just two kind of coincidental.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's coincidental. But I really like North Carolina. I thought,
Speaker 1: like I lived there for about two years and totally
Speaker 1: different area like Boon or Blowing Lock Rock, North Carolina,
Speaker 1: which is in the mountains and is awesome area, but
Speaker 1: I really like just the state of North Carolina. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, that when Elon came up, I was at
Speaker 1: Grand Valley and had I'd lived there for maybe ten
Speaker 1: or eleven years total as an athlete and a coach,
Speaker 1: and at that point, like my coach was just like
Speaker 1: he just had it down, like every day he knew
Speaker 1: exactly what he's gonna do because he did it last
Speaker 1: year on that day and just had the whole structure down.
Speaker 1: And so they afforded us a lot of opportunity to coach.
Speaker 1: But I kind of want to see if could I
Speaker 1: do this on my own, and what would be like
Speaker 1: if I had my own program, and so yeah, that
Speaker 1: was a good opportunity to like do my own thing
Speaker 1: a little bit but still be in North Carolina.
Speaker 3: Okay. You know we always talk about, especially as a director,
Speaker 3: you know, with wrestling coaches, to the head of the
Speaker 3: program is like the CEO of a business. And so
Speaker 3: when you took over and stepped into that kind of
Speaker 3: CEO role at Elon, But now at Lipscom, how has
Speaker 3: how has your role evolved? I guess from stepping into
Speaker 3: it at Elon to what you're doing now in twenty two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it's one thing that's more
Speaker 1: challenging at Lipscomb is we have a men's and women's
Speaker 1: like track program. At Elon we had men's cross and
Speaker 1: then women's ross and track, so there's a few more
Speaker 1: bodies to it, but a lot of it's the same
Speaker 1: kind of thing I think of just trying to like
Speaker 1: at Lipscomb, just we have our distance coaches that kind
Speaker 1: of helped me out, and then we have our sprint
Speaker 1: and jumps and kind of everything else coaches and just
Speaker 1: making sure people have what they need to be successful,
Speaker 1: and then the knowledge of just kind of like what
Speaker 1: are your parameters, you know, like we don't have everything
Speaker 1: we need. We don't have unlimited budgets. So just like
Speaker 1: I think, setting the expectation for what successes, and then
Speaker 1: just checking on people to make sure you know that
Speaker 1: they care and you're there and yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: you know, it's like coaching the distance kids for me,
Speaker 1: but then it's like partially coaching the coaches and setting
Speaker 1: the tone and stuff. So thankfully, I think I'm in
Speaker 1: year six, you know, I think it gets a little
Speaker 1: easier that you you kind of know the structure and
Speaker 1: what's to come. So every year for me, I think
Speaker 1: it's gotten a little bit smoother in that.
Speaker 2: Okay, coach, you mentioned being in year six, So how
Speaker 2: did it start and how's it going?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So so I had a little gap in there
Speaker 1: too when I was at Elon. I was there for
Speaker 1: three years and it probably bounced, you know, around a
Speaker 1: little bit a little bit much at that time. But
Speaker 1: I left. I left coaching. We were having a daughter
Speaker 1: and my wife and I and and honestly I was
Speaker 1: kind of like a little bit burnt out on coaching
Speaker 1: at the time having a daughter. A good opportunity came
Speaker 1: up to work at USA Track and Field in the
Speaker 1: national office and a sweet job. Like I it was
Speaker 1: in my hometown of Indie, and so I could have
Speaker 1: our daughter, I get home with family and traveled like
Speaker 1: the world. So I went to almost every Diamond League
Speaker 1: meet and got to just do the professional side of
Speaker 1: the sport. So I you know, went from T two
Speaker 1: to D one to you know, working with professional athletes,
Speaker 1: and it was way more of like the one percent.
Speaker 1: So I wasn't coaching them or doing any of that,
Speaker 1: but helping them like find a doctor for an injury,
Speaker 1: sports psychology, sports science y type stuff for helping them
Speaker 1: with like grants and financial side of things. So so
Speaker 1: it was cool I got to do like the kind
Speaker 1: of little one percent for the top athletes in the
Speaker 1: US and got to travel the world and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: But I also it was a really nice break from
Speaker 1: coaching because it made me miss the ninety nine percent
Speaker 1: of the time with just the student athletes. And so
Speaker 1: I came to Lipscomb like really refreshed, I think, and
Speaker 1: ready to invest in the student athletes because I was
Speaker 1: able to kind of get check that like professional box
Speaker 1: and meet a lot of people and kind of do
Speaker 1: things at a high level. But yeah, so I transitioned, yeah,
Speaker 1: from USATF and yeah, it's been awesome six years. It's
Speaker 1: flown by so far.
Speaker 2: So you kind of mentioned running the full gamut of
Speaker 2: every experience as far as D two, D one USA
Speaker 2: track and fields, and before you had mentioned that recruiting's
Speaker 2: kind of changing a little bit with the ANIL and
Speaker 2: the ability to just kind of pay kids. What do
Speaker 2: you think the advantage of being at a smaller Division
Speaker 2: one school like Lipsyn is and what do you think
Speaker 2: you know some disadvantages might be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the biggest disadvantage I think is just
Speaker 1: like you're you're not typically like on anybody's radar to start,
Speaker 1: you know, like you're not the school that like the
Speaker 1: you know, you're at the hospital. They're putting you in
Speaker 1: the Alabama Onesie or the South Carolina. You know. It's
Speaker 1: like a lot of kids have that, Like from day one,
Speaker 1: my dad and my uncle, my mom went here, so
Speaker 1: this is where I'm going to school. So you always
Speaker 1: are fighting that battle. But I do think once you
Speaker 1: can get a program to a national level, it definitely
Speaker 1: opens people's eyes because we get recruits now that are like, oh,
Speaker 1: I just looked up the top all the schools at
Speaker 1: NCAA's and just emailed every coach you know, and it's
Speaker 1: like you would have connected with that athlete if you
Speaker 1: didn't make it into that pool of schools. So it
Speaker 1: definitely has gotten a little bit easier as you get
Speaker 1: things to a national level because you just have a
Speaker 1: little bit more eyes on you. But that is probably
Speaker 1: our biggest struggle always is just like fighting the battle.
Speaker 1: It's you know, the schools you see ESPN all the time,
Speaker 1: and but in that, you know, you get it in that.
Speaker 1: I think like we have also found, probably more than
Speaker 1: anything recently, that the kid the kids that are interested
Speaker 1: in Lipscomb or a place like us, like they're not
Speaker 1: interested in the big schools and vice versa. So if
Speaker 1: we lose a kid we're in the state of Tennessee,
Speaker 1: if we lose a kid to Tennessee, like they were
Speaker 1: never coming here, they wouldn't have been a good fit
Speaker 1: when they're here. And you get a lot of kids
Speaker 1: that go to those schools just because of the football
Speaker 1: program or just because of the notoriety or on Instagram.
Speaker 1: They want to, you know, show their friends that that's
Speaker 1: where they went to school. And we've often found that
Speaker 1: those kids just aren't good fits. And like one of
Speaker 1: the reasons that we've gotten good is because we don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of kids like that. Like, we don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of kids that came to run d
Speaker 1: one or to to look good and kind of you know,
Speaker 1: cash out once they get there. So pretty much everybody
Speaker 1: that came is like here for a reason and still
Speaker 1: desires to be good. Like none of them feel like
Speaker 1: they made it. And so yeah, I guess just on
Speaker 1: a recruiting aspect again, like we just we fight, we
Speaker 1: fight the brand, I think a lot. But the kids
Speaker 1: we get are here for a purpose and often have
Speaker 1: a lot of desire once they get here.
Speaker 3: And you've got a pretty I don't know if diverse
Speaker 3: is regionally, you know, geographically diverse roster, you know. I
Speaker 3: see you've got a boy and a young man and
Speaker 3: a young lady from New Jersey, but you've got some
Speaker 3: kids from California. We've got a wide range of some
Speaker 3: people from the Midwest as well. And I, like you said,
Speaker 3: I would imagine the ladies getting twenty third and eleventh
Speaker 3: year before and having a couple of gentlemen run under
Speaker 3: four minutes has kind of helped bring in some of
Speaker 3: those individuals and get you some notoriety.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, it helps a lot. I think any
Speaker 1: little thing along the way. It was like the first
Speaker 1: girl to bring sixteen minutes, that first got a break
Speaker 1: for the first of all American, Like, every time I
Speaker 1: feel like you can achieve something like that, at least,
Speaker 1: it's just something fun to talk to about, you know,
Speaker 1: in recruiting, and it helps. It helps a lot. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we've we've been fortunate to have people all over. I mean,
Speaker 1: so last year when our women got eleven at a Nationals,
Speaker 1: we were probably the only school and maybe that this
Speaker 1: never even happens again, but we had seven the seven
Speaker 1: athletes on the line, we're all US athletes, no transfers,
Speaker 1: and so they're all undergrad kids that came to us
Speaker 1: from Ohio and New New Hampshire and you know whatever.
Speaker 1: So the days of that probably ever happening again are over.
Speaker 1: But it was pretty cool to be able to do
Speaker 1: that with like kids that we recruited from high school
Speaker 1: and kind of developed over time, as opposed to kind
Speaker 1: of you know, picking off athletes out of the transfer portal,
Speaker 1: which we do now kind of because we have to.
Speaker 1: But it's a. It's a changing environment for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And you see you got some some Aussies, some international
Speaker 3: students as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah those are fun. You have a good you
Speaker 1: get one one kid from somewhere, they have a good
Speaker 1: experience and they tell their friend and or you know it,
Speaker 1: their two friends are fast and looking at your school
Speaker 1: and it's a it's an awesome recruiting pipeline.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Just being in Nashville help.
Speaker 1: Recruiting, yes, one hundred percent. Yeah. I think if we
Speaker 1: were someplace else, I'm not sure we have the success
Speaker 1: that we have. Uh, Nashville. It was I mean it
Speaker 1: was a tool for recruiting myself to coach there. Like
Speaker 1: it's like a big little city. It's fun, there's stuff
Speaker 1: to do all over the place, but doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: you live in a major metropolitan area. It's kind of warm,
Speaker 1: or it can be warm. Yeah, it's a great place.
Speaker 1: I think, like especially kids from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a destination for them for sure.
Speaker 3: And it's correct correct me if I'm wrong, but it's
Speaker 3: a it's a Christian university, yes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and it's a Christian school and so we
Speaker 1: have and so there's a niche kind of factor to
Speaker 1: that too. Is that like I think that schools like Lipscum,
Speaker 1: there's only a couple you know that kind of do
Speaker 1: what we do, and the kids are probably held to
Speaker 1: a higher standard and you kind of have to want
Speaker 1: that as a part of your educational experience and and
Speaker 1: so it creates it does a we probably have access
Speaker 1: to a little higher level athlete than the typical small
Speaker 1: private school because just there's a faith aspect of like
Speaker 1: a lot of our kids, that's just what they look
Speaker 1: for as a part of their experience.
Speaker 3: And is that something that's part of the schooling, Like
Speaker 3: is there like a weekly chapel or daily chapel?
Speaker 1: Yep, they go to weekly chapel Tuesdays and Thursdays. They
Speaker 1: all you know, typically take a Bible class either each
Speaker 1: year each semester. And then like we the team went
Speaker 1: on a mission trip to El Salvador and Ember we
Speaker 1: did a volunteering opportunity at of school just today. And
Speaker 1: so yeah, there's a lot of ways I think that
Speaker 1: we invest in the student athletes that they're probably not
Speaker 1: going to get at other schools while maintaining you know,
Speaker 1: a high level of athletic performance too, And.
Speaker 3: Is it do you find this to something with that
Speaker 3: aspect to the university that that almost because it narrows
Speaker 3: your focus of student athletes, it almost makes recruiting in
Speaker 3: some ways easier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah. I think from who we
Speaker 1: draw to us, it's easier because like initially we'll cast
Speaker 1: a pretty wide net and then you'll you know, you
Speaker 1: might have a phone conversation with someone and you're like,
Speaker 1: there's no chance, like you'd be successful. In the first sentence,
Speaker 1: I'm like, how do I get out of this phone call?
Speaker 1: I've had that with a couple of times, Like just
Speaker 1: I talked to some kid and it was just like
Speaker 1: ten f bombs in the first two sentences. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: you know it's not gonna work, you know, for us.
Speaker 1: And it's like, again, I don't have anything against that necessarily,
Speaker 1: but it's not going to fit you know, here and
Speaker 1: so and so there's that aspect. It helps us narrow
Speaker 1: it down a little bit. And it also, like I said,
Speaker 1: it gives us an access to a higher level pool,
Speaker 1: Like we don't always get the kids, but if it's
Speaker 1: like a strong Christian runner, that's top ten in the
Speaker 1: nation at foot locker, like they'll talk to us for
Speaker 1: a long time, and you know it might be end
Speaker 1: up we end up losing the battle to you know,
Speaker 1: one of the one of the top ten athletic schools.
Speaker 1: But we'll be in the conversation with anybody as long
Speaker 1: as that, as long as there's a faith fit all
Speaker 1: the way until the end.
Speaker 2: Most of the time, Coach you mentioned first couple sentences
Speaker 2: of that fund conversation, you might realize, oh, this is
Speaker 2: just might not fait. Do you have any stories where
Speaker 2: you might have had a wild child or two and
Speaker 2: coming to this school help them and being on the program.
Speaker 1: Or yeah, no doubt. Yeah, I mean and I say so,
Speaker 1: I would say we will take like selective risks too.
Speaker 1: So so as we've gotten better, you just get more
Speaker 1: kids that are interested in running and the opportunity and
Speaker 1: the coaching and stuff in Nashville, and so you know,
Speaker 1: we'll have that conversation because there's people on our team
Speaker 1: that have like you know that are they came to
Speaker 1: Lipskomb for the faith aspect like that was number one.
Speaker 1: And then we'll have some students that came to run
Speaker 1: and just like you have student athletes. You've got athlete
Speaker 1: students and that kind of thing, and so we'll take risks,
Speaker 1: but yeah, we've got some guys that are We always
Speaker 1: try to do a really good job of explaining like
Speaker 1: what it's about. I mean, there's no no guys and
Speaker 1: girls dorms. You know, you're taking Bible classes. You know,
Speaker 1: it's there are things that I think are strict and
Speaker 1: have made us better athletes because they're so strict. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it can be a shock for some and
Speaker 1: so I don't necessarily have I mean, there's still squirrely kids,
Speaker 1: Like there's still kids that do things that they're not
Speaker 1: supposed to do, and you know, they're getting caught in
Speaker 1: dorms and cars and you know, like, nowhere's perfect. Our
Speaker 1: kids are going to do silly stuff. But at Lipscomb,
Speaker 1: I think the level of craziness is pretty tame. And
Speaker 1: and that is also the byproduct. Byproduct of that is
Speaker 1: like it has helped running performance as well.
Speaker 2: So I want to get to the campus and be
Speaker 2: in Nashville. But you just brought something that kind of
Speaker 2: raised this question in my head. You mentioned kids are
Speaker 2: going to be kids, and they're going to do what
Speaker 2: kids are going to do coaching for so long? Does
Speaker 2: anything shock you now.
Speaker 1: No, especially in the last few year. It's just in life.
Speaker 1: Like I mean, I've said this a lot of times,
Speaker 1: probably the last couple years. Nothing surprises me anymore. Like
Speaker 1: you did you think that there could be a global
Speaker 1: pandemic you know that shut things down? You know? Did
Speaker 1: you think like the NCAA we're going to be paying athletes?
Speaker 1: You know, I mean just anything like recruiting stuff, recruiting
Speaker 1: stuff doesn't Like That's probably the biggest thing, is like
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised by anything, like us getting a kid.
Speaker 1: We never thought we would, a kid committing until the
Speaker 1: day before school starts, them leaving, kid leaving after you know,
Speaker 1: just like there's everything is on the table. So I
Speaker 1: am I'm not surprised by anything these days. And that
Speaker 1: might just be age, you know, you just kind of
Speaker 1: like seen it all after a while, no doubt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel you there, coach. I am thirty seven,
Speaker 2: and there's so many times in my daily where I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: I'm getting old, like just my perspective on things. It's
Speaker 2: crazy how that works.
Speaker 1: But you brought up and I have to remember that too,
Speaker 1: Like when we take kids to like Brian Clay in
Speaker 1: California or NC State, or like they make it to Nationals.
Speaker 1: It's stuff I've done like twenty times, but they've never
Speaker 1: done that, you know. And so I have found myself
Speaker 1: recently being like, you know, reminding you yourself how cool
Speaker 1: that is or how fun it is. Like We'll get
Speaker 1: on a plane and it'll be like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: my first plane trip ever, and you know, you kind
Speaker 1: of forget that when you've been doing it for twenty years.
Speaker 1: So I'm though, I'm not surprised by it anything. I
Speaker 1: have to always remind myself like how cool this is.
Speaker 1: And it's a different journey with every kid, you know,
Speaker 1: every year.
Speaker 2: So Matt, not to show our age again, but this
Speaker 2: is a conversation we have with all the coaches we
Speaker 2: have on and the generation gaps and kids nowadays they
Speaker 2: don't understand. And we were talking about the recruiting and
Speaker 2: how that has changed. How has the way you communicate
Speaker 2: with your athletes change, and is there kind of a
Speaker 2: different way of how you need to approach athletes than
Speaker 2: it was ten years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I've definitely gotten older. I feel
Speaker 1: like I've been in this. When I first started, I
Speaker 1: think I was a really good recruiter because I could
Speaker 1: I could talk just like they did and have those conversations.
Speaker 1: And then I kind of got into this weird you
Speaker 1: kind of get in this weird middle place. I don't know,
Speaker 1: if you're like just an uncle or something, and you know,
Speaker 1: you're like you're not the kid and you're not quite dad,
Speaker 1: and you're just like in this weird zone. I think
Speaker 1: I'm almost getting closer to like being dad, you know,
Speaker 1: And I think that and I have kids now, so
Speaker 1: that helps. But probably one of the best things we
Speaker 1: hired an assistant, Grace who ran for us, and she
Speaker 1: can still speak the lingo and talk about Taylor Swift
Speaker 1: to the girls and like, you know, Nashville coffee and
Speaker 1: ice or you know, cold brew or whatever you know
Speaker 1: they do, and that's huge because I can't do that
Speaker 1: stuff anymore. So I'll be like the closer talking about training.
Speaker 1: And typically I'm better with like the really serious ones,
Speaker 1: like the serious kids that want to talk about what
Speaker 1: does training look like? And I want to be pushed
Speaker 1: or grad students, Like if it's a grad student, I'm
Speaker 1: normally I'm the guy because they want to know, like
Speaker 1: how much does it cost? What are you going to
Speaker 1: train me? Like? And so I think for us as
Speaker 1: a staff, you know, I think I've realized what my
Speaker 1: limitations are and I think O their staff members have
Speaker 1: probably done that. So you just try to really fill
Speaker 1: in the gaps because yeah, again, as a foty year old,
Speaker 1: it's hard to talk to a seventeen year old girl
Speaker 1: about anything in life other than the small connection that
Speaker 1: we have, which is, you know, running most of the time,
Speaker 1: and they don't even want to talk about that, you know,
Speaker 1: most of the time.
Speaker 3: So what color are the uniforms?
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Hey, we've gotten a kid. I've got
Speaker 1: a kid to come once one of our best runners
Speaker 1: ever at Grand Valley because she liked the color of
Speaker 1: the uniforms.
Speaker 3: So you just happened. So it happens. What's that big said?
Speaker 3: You know you mentioned in your sixth year and you
Speaker 3: had your third consecutive a Sun championship on the women's side,
Speaker 3: you returned to nationals, you just had another gentleman break four.
Speaker 3: How has the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five
Speaker 3: year been working out for you? Shaping up for you?
Speaker 2: Are you?
Speaker 3: Is everything? On track where you hoped you would be. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think so.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it was our goal to to get
Speaker 1: the ladies back to NCAA's I mean it was hard
Speaker 1: because we we finished eleventh in the first year we
Speaker 1: ever made it, so that is a pretty high bar
Speaker 1: to be set. And then we return to everybody. We
Speaker 1: end up losing our top run her who was an
Speaker 1: All American fairly late. She got a job offer and
Speaker 1: was a nurse and just kind of wanted to go
Speaker 1: do that, and so she left eligibility on the table.
Speaker 1: So that was kind of a shock for us, and
Speaker 1: so being able to absorb that. We knew that would
Speaker 1: be tough, but I think for us just to be
Speaker 1: back was a challenge in itself, and thankfully we were
Speaker 1: able to do that get twenty third, and so on
Speaker 1: the lady's side, it's been an awesome progression that was
Speaker 1: exactly like how we envisioned the program six years ago.
Speaker 1: It's going, I think exactly how we would have wanted.
Speaker 1: And then on the guys side, we've had all we've
Speaker 1: had some really good athletes, but we still haven't been
Speaker 1: able to kind of get over this hump. And so
Speaker 1: I think for me, that has been one of the
Speaker 1: biggest challenges is if you can get the ladies to
Speaker 1: that level, why can't you get the guys there? And
Speaker 1: the guy who is kind of broke through first? We
Speaker 1: had our first All American. We had a guy, two
Speaker 1: guys run one eight hundred and the first All Americans
Speaker 1: in this Uh, the story of the school in any sport.
Speaker 1: So the guys kind of like broke through first, but uh,
Speaker 1: and then as an individual and the ladies did it
Speaker 1: as a team. So I think for us on the
Speaker 1: guys side, it's like we have We've had all these
Speaker 1: like good individuals along the way, but getting enough of
Speaker 1: them to be a team and breakthrough as has been
Speaker 1: a challenge. So so it's been good. I've kind of
Speaker 1: gotten what I've wanted on the women's side, and then
Speaker 1: it's something that's left to be desired on the men's
Speaker 1: side and just trying to like I know, you had
Speaker 1: Robert Gary on that not that long ago, and I
Speaker 1: think they've done a really good job of not being
Speaker 1: there every year, but the men and women kind of
Speaker 1: being at a similar level. And so while we've had
Speaker 1: success on the women's side on a team perspective, just
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five, trying to get
Speaker 1: those guys to get there too and experience that.
Speaker 3: Is it a Is it a friendly rivalry with the
Speaker 3: men and the women about that?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Competitive at all?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it does. Yeah, especially like Team GPA
Speaker 1: and stuff, like the guys the girls for the first
Speaker 1: time ever by like point oh one, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a friendly rivalry. I think the guys are kind
Speaker 1: of fed up and they're like, all right, we're ready
Speaker 1: for our turn. But then again, the guys have had
Speaker 1: a lot of individual success, Like some of our best
Speaker 1: guys have been better than our best women. It's just
Speaker 1: we put together a really strong team on the women's side.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's just getting you know, getting the guys
Speaker 1: to Getting the guys to feel like a team and
Speaker 1: be a team and compete as team is not easy.
Speaker 3: Is that the X factors the cohesiveness of the men's
Speaker 3: team coming together as one?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. And then just training expectations. I
Speaker 1: think even for me, I think realizing how much you
Speaker 1: have to run and how hard you have to train.
Speaker 1: And we've had for whatever reason, just that we've had
Speaker 1: a few really talented guys in our program that are
Speaker 1: just injury prone and so I haven't been able to
Speaker 1: train them as much as they probably need to be.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, just like for me, raising my expectations
Speaker 1: of like what is weekly mileage look like and how
Speaker 1: long the workouts need to be and what kind of
Speaker 1: volume we need we need to put in and yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think it's like a cohesiveness in training. And
Speaker 1: then on the other side, it's just recruiting too. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't you have to have good kids, have a
Speaker 1: good team. So it's probably all the above.
Speaker 3: Right, I guess with that being said, you know, the
Speaker 3: hot topic lately with training is the double threshold. You
Speaker 3: guys dabble in the in the world the double thresholder.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think everybody pretty much does to some degree. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: we typically will early on in the season, normally not
Speaker 1: more than once a week, and a lot of times
Speaker 1: we do, we like on non race weeks, so like
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday in a non race week, the guys
Speaker 1: will do two sessions. But we try to, uh, we're
Speaker 1: trying to go overboard with it. But yeah, it's definitely
Speaker 1: a way we've we've gotten better because we've kind of
Speaker 1: inched up the amount of training that we're doing with it.
Speaker 3: Is it well received? Yeah, oh, you got a lot
Speaker 3: of guys that a lot of coaches. I should say
Speaker 3: that that the kids are kind of chomping at the
Speaker 3: bit that they want to try it.
Speaker 1: So oh yeah, yeah, which is crazy. You know, you
Speaker 1: think it'd be the opposite way. The kids love it.
Speaker 1: They they would do double workouts four times a week
Speaker 1: if they could. And I haven't done as much on
Speaker 1: the lady's side. Honestly, the ladies, I don't think that
Speaker 1: they love it. I think we get we try to
Speaker 1: get in as much as we can in one session.
Speaker 1: But the guys they'll do it. They'll do it all day.
Speaker 3: They love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, most of them can't handle it, but they love it.
Speaker 3: Do you think that's just something we mentioned some of
Speaker 3: the guys that tend to be maybe a little injury party.
Speaker 3: Think breaking it up like that is beneficial for some
Speaker 3: of those individuals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good. Yeah, yeah for sure. And then we
Speaker 1: just do less junk mile its too, Like instead of
Speaker 1: doing a twenty minute warm up and twenty minute cool down,
Speaker 1: we might do two mile warm up, one mile cool
Speaker 1: down or one in one like we basically have taken
Speaker 1: away junk and added quality and so that's been a huge,
Speaker 1: uh change. It's just less less junk mileage and more
Speaker 1: high quality running.
Speaker 2: Coach, before you brought up bringing back the same team
Speaker 2: that got eleventh and getting twenty third this year, was
Speaker 2: that a different in a meet or was that a
Speaker 2: difference in a season? Meaning was there stuff that went
Speaker 2: different during the season, or was it just not having
Speaker 2: a good NCAA meet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good question, I think. Uh, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of teams got better, and so I don't
Speaker 1: know how much I want to say worse we were,
Speaker 1: but a lot of teams went out and got international
Speaker 1: athletes or Kenyans or just got older and got better.
Speaker 1: And uh. And I also don't think we ever put
Speaker 1: it together on the same day. Like I think we
Speaker 1: had probably just as good of a team, like we
Speaker 1: could have been eleventh or twelfth or something, but getting
Speaker 1: five people to kind of knock it out of the
Speaker 1: park on one day is really hard. And we had
Speaker 1: one athlete in particular just she just had a tough season,
Speaker 1: and uh, and typically that's how it is, you know,
Speaker 1: Like we had like kind of two of our best
Speaker 1: athletes when one was on, one was off, and then
Speaker 1: and it flipped almost every meat and so you just
Speaker 1: like crossing your fingers, like, can you guys both hit
Speaker 1: them on the same day, and if they do, we
Speaker 1: are probably eleven, twelve, thirteen something like that. So it's
Speaker 1: just so like finicky and fickle that like if you
Speaker 1: if you get to the meat, like we beat even
Speaker 1: at twenty third, we beat multiple teams that beat us
Speaker 1: all year, you know, and so yeah, it's just kind
Speaker 1: of like how do you perform on that on that day?
Speaker 2: So what do you what do you base success for
Speaker 2: the for the season and for the team on, knowing
Speaker 2: that the variables can be so different and that it's
Speaker 2: so competitive. Obviously the lay person might look and just
Speaker 2: see numbers and think, oh, that's that's the worst season.
Speaker 2: But you might not.
Speaker 3: You might know what.
Speaker 2: Went into the train and what went into the personal stuff.
Speaker 2: So how do you kind of give that back to
Speaker 2: the kids, like, hey, you guys had a great year?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah for sure. I mean I think like improvement
Speaker 1: over years before. So if like a kid was a hundred,
Speaker 1: it's like, could you do better than that? So I
Speaker 1: think looking at the hard numbers of it. I mean
Speaker 1: obviously in our sport, you know, okay, like where did
Speaker 1: you place? What was your time? So you have like
Speaker 1: some feedback there, and then just trying to be realistic,
Speaker 1: like there are some programs now that are like algorithm
Speaker 1: based and they're not perfect, but they can give you
Speaker 1: a pretty good idea of like where your team is
Speaker 1: at the time. And so there's one right now that
Speaker 1: I'll look at and it, yeah, you can see kind
Speaker 1: of like as a coach, I take it with a
Speaker 1: grain of salt, but you can manage expectations a little
Speaker 1: bit too. You know. It's like I never want to
Speaker 1: go in there and be like, hey, we're a top
Speaker 1: ten team and then they get twenty third and they
Speaker 1: feel bad. I always try to keep in mind of
Speaker 1: like where are we actually in twenty third at that
Speaker 1: point was probably an over performance from our I think
Speaker 1: we ranked twenty eight or twenty nine or something like that.
Speaker 1: And at one point this algorithm is, you know, pointing
Speaker 1: out that we're supposed to get last, you know, get
Speaker 1: thirty first. So so yeah, I think it's like individually,
Speaker 1: how'd you do, team, how'd you do? And then like
Speaker 1: what are the real expectations like, I don't want to
Speaker 1: have conversations with kids that are not realistic and get
Speaker 1: their hopes up, So always try to be very realistic
Speaker 1: on like what do I think that they can do?
Speaker 1: If that makes sense.
Speaker 2: So I have a crushed off that because I know
Speaker 2: I had some coaches that gassed me up for the
Speaker 2: better where they made me think I was better than
Speaker 2: I actually was, and I would that performer. But like
Speaker 2: you said, you don't want to gas them up too
Speaker 2: much because they might not even come close. So what
Speaker 2: is that middle ground? Or you strictly this is what
Speaker 2: the numbers tell me and we're sticking on that, or
Speaker 2: do you try to say, hey, if you believe it,
Speaker 2: you can achieve it type thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that's a struggle because like last year
Speaker 1: when we did get eleventh, I would be like they
Speaker 1: got mad at me because I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: top twenty would be good. You know, I realistically thought like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that was probably the best we're going to do last year,
Speaker 1: And I remember the girls like looking at each other
Speaker 1: like like what's this guy talking about? We're going to
Speaker 1: do better than that? And so I think it probably
Speaker 1: is the group dynamic too, Like I tend to try
Speaker 1: to be real rational with them and be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: if I think you're gonna get tenth because you've never
Speaker 1: beaten those nine athletes, then this is what your pr
Speaker 1: at whatever it is. If I think you're gonna get tenth,
Speaker 1: Like I'll probably be pretty honest with them in that regard,
Speaker 1: but I try to play the room too. Like last
Speaker 1: year's group felt like underdogs and for me to kind
Speaker 1: of give them a low bar that was like not
Speaker 1: acceptable to them, and they went out and tried to
Speaker 1: outdo me. And then this year, if I go say, hey,
Speaker 1: we're a top ten team and we don't do it,
Speaker 1: I think this team probably would have crumpled. And so
Speaker 1: I think it's just kind of knowing your team and
Speaker 1: knowing what to tell them at what time. But it's
Speaker 1: fun as a coach. I mean, I can you're with
Speaker 1: them so much. A lot of times. We'll go to
Speaker 1: these big meets and I'll predict. I'll be like, you're
Speaker 1: gonna run thirteen to fifty five for five K, and
Speaker 1: then they go run thirteen fifty four for five K.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's fun because you've seen them for
Speaker 1: all these years. Like as a coach, I can predict
Speaker 1: typically within a second or two of how they're going
Speaker 1: to perform, you know, if everything goes to plan, and
Speaker 1: so I don't know, as a coach, you have pretty
Speaker 1: good intuition on that stuff.
Speaker 3: Do you still get nervous though?
Speaker 1: Uh? Before when it matters a lot? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I'm less nervous that when it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: But yeah, when it like the start of the line
Speaker 1: of NCAA's or like you get to the The thing
Speaker 1: I never like is like the time from when you
Speaker 1: get to a meet and then the athlete goes like
Speaker 1: that hour two hours is horrible. I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: fidgeting looking at stuff on your phone, especially like NCAA
Speaker 1: outdoor track like you have. We'd go to a Eugene
Speaker 1: and we'd have one guy in the eight hundred and
Speaker 1: so you spend like thousands of dollars and you're away
Speaker 1: from your family for seven days and you know you're
Speaker 1: at this meet and uh that just that kind of
Speaker 1: like all build up for one athlete for that to
Speaker 1: hour span is terrible. So yeah, I still get you know,
Speaker 1: still get somewhat nervous on that stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hear you it's you sick. As you get older,
Speaker 3: that kind of wanes a little bit. But yeah, when
Speaker 3: the bright lights are shine and sometimes and you've got
Speaker 3: to be able to keep a poker face because you
Speaker 3: don't want them to know that you're you got butterflies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got to exude confidence of stoicism. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt. And I think we have a pretty good
Speaker 1: We've got a pretty good group that's not real nervous
Speaker 1: in general. So that helps too because they don't they
Speaker 1: don't make me nervous. It's like, hey, I've got this,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's that's a good place to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So coach, we touched on the religious aspect to
Speaker 3: the school, and I believe there's a a strong nursing
Speaker 3: program at the school as well. Possibly what what are
Speaker 3: some of the academic things that you know, might coincide
Speaker 3: with the religious component that some recruits are keen in on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you hit one right there with nursing, Like,
Speaker 1: we get a lot of kids that we have a
Speaker 1: lot of women that do nursing that aren't able or
Speaker 1: not allowed to do that at other schools, and so
Speaker 1: that's one way that we can we can get them
Speaker 1: as well allow them to do it. And so we
Speaker 1: hear that all the time that you know, coach, that
Speaker 1: I can run if I do nursing. And so we
Speaker 1: would never be a place that would sacrifice your academics
Speaker 1: for your athletics like that. So we allow of kids
Speaker 1: to do engineering or nursing or whatever they want. But
Speaker 1: that's been big. We're the only fully accredited business school
Speaker 1: in the state and so in the state of Tennessee,
Speaker 1: and so we get a lot of kids that are
Speaker 1: that come to do undergrad business or NBA. Engineering is big,
Speaker 1: so you know for us health sciences of some sort
Speaker 1: of business engineering. That's pretty much the makeup of our
Speaker 1: whole team.
Speaker 3: Okay, God, Jim coach, before you brought up that, I
Speaker 3: believe it was.
Speaker 2: The cross country team had the first All Americans ever
Speaker 2: at the school. Were you guys the top dogs on campus?
Speaker 1: I mean, I like to think so. I think we're
Speaker 1: definitely a basketball school. We made the tournament and hopefully
Speaker 1: they do it again this year. Our men's soccer team
Speaker 1: has been ranked in the top ten in the NCAA.
Speaker 1: But I think our women's team last year eleventh. I
Speaker 1: think that's the you know, that's the probably the best
Speaker 1: team the school's ever had at the Division one level.
Speaker 1: I think we've been Division one for since two thousand maybe,
Speaker 1: so it's pretty cool. I mean, we're we're also like
Speaker 1: our women's team is cross country team is the highest
Speaker 1: ranked team in any sport in our whole a Sun
Speaker 1: conference too, So you know, just being able to tell
Speaker 1: our ladies that, Like, I don't think they realize how
Speaker 1: good they are, Like they're the best team in any
Speaker 1: sport and any gender in the entire conference, our school,
Speaker 1: the city. You know, it's like they're one of the best,
Speaker 1: the best teams of any any sport in the in
Speaker 1: Nashville and the conference, all that kind of stuff. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think not like taunting that around, but I think
Speaker 1: that's something that we take pride in as being really
Speaker 1: good at what we do.
Speaker 2: You brought up a couple of times not having a
Speaker 2: football team is actually a benefit to you guys, But
Speaker 2: we know that having a football team is kind of
Speaker 2: this is what we're doing on the weekends. This is
Speaker 2: what we're doing. We have home meets. What is the
Speaker 2: student life like on campus? What are kids Obviously you're
Speaker 2: in Nashville, so there's plenty to do, But what's going
Speaker 2: on on campus when kids aren't in class or running?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I mean I think the Nashville
Speaker 1: side helps. Like if you're in a small school like lipscumb
Speaker 1: but you're in the middle of a cornfield, I think
Speaker 1: it'd be a pretty tough place to be. But I
Speaker 1: think even for me, like having a family and stuff,
Speaker 1: I mean, Nashville is there's music. There's like, yeah, there's concerts,
Speaker 1: there's sports, there's every restaurant you know you could ever
Speaker 1: think of, and there's f one racing there. You know,
Speaker 1: there's something like all the time, and so that's fun.
Speaker 1: And the other cool aspect I think that kids don't
Speaker 1: you get everywhere is like we always say, it's like
Speaker 1: redneck Hollywood. There's like country artists running on our track.
Speaker 1: Our track is totally open, so you'll see tons of
Speaker 1: music artists there and comedians and like you know, there's
Speaker 1: the one guy yet our track like four days a
Speaker 1: week gang yeah and so and just people like that
Speaker 1: are all over and so it's just a different experience
Speaker 1: that our kids get to. Like those kinds of people
Speaker 1: are everywhere there, Like my so Lipscomb also has like
Speaker 1: a k through twelve. You can go to within the
Speaker 1: same umbrella, and our kids are in there with like
Speaker 1: kid rocks, grandkids and like you know, all these country
Speaker 1: artists and stuff. So yeah, it's just a different thing.
Speaker 1: Like there's just so much like music and entertainment kind
Speaker 1: of around them that there's always something to do and
Speaker 1: something kind of exciting. But I also think our kids
Speaker 1: live a pretty spartan lifestyle too, so especially our ladies,
Speaker 1: though there is fun stuff to do, you know, they're
Speaker 1: one of the reasons for success is like on a
Speaker 1: Friday night, you know, a lot of our grandma's and
Speaker 1: going to bed at nine pm. Because just the kind
Speaker 1: of life that they live and what their goals are.
Speaker 1: So it's a balance, like though there is a bunch
Speaker 1: of stuff to do, they're not always doing it though too.
Speaker 2: Coach, you mentioned there being some good food. Where are
Speaker 2: you taking recruits? You got any barbecue seekerts anything like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll do Yeah, we'll do a little bit of barbecue.
Speaker 1: There's a Mexican place that we like a lot. We
Speaker 1: had this awesome Mexican place, but it got taken over
Speaker 1: by Nashville continues to grow and so they just got
Speaker 1: got pushed out, so we found a new one that's great.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we typically we have like a Burger spot
Speaker 1: that we go to, we have a Mexican spot that
Speaker 1: we go to in the or barbecue for guys. Mostly
Speaker 1: ladies don't seem to really like that. But yeah, there's everything,
Speaker 1: I mean everything within a couple of miles of us.
Speaker 3: Are you guys right in the thick of it in Nashville.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're about three miles from downtown. So do you
Speaker 1: go up like the tallest building on campus, you can
Speaker 1: you know, see downtown. But you're also run this little
Speaker 1: neighborhood called Green Hills, So it's super nice, safe area,
Speaker 1: but not far from downtown.
Speaker 3: Okay, cool, Well I think you you know, like I said,
Speaker 3: he lived a pretty spartan lifestyle. But I think you know,
Speaker 3: it's it's there's there's a lot of potential for for
Speaker 3: a lot of athletes, uh to be successful and kind
Speaker 3: of balance that a little bit either in the off
Speaker 3: season or maybe once in a while taking a concert
Speaker 3: of their favorite athlete or go see Urman theo in
Speaker 3: in in the comedy show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's always asking if he can try out for
Speaker 1: the team, So.
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny. He on a recent one of
Speaker 3: his recent podcasts, he mentioned the soccer team.
Speaker 1: To see that someone like I had watched it and
Speaker 1: then most people had sent it to me. Yeah, his
Speaker 1: next door neighbor is like our our men's soccer coach,
Speaker 1: and so I think they get along pretty well. And
Speaker 1: uh yeah, he's he's around all time and then always
Speaker 1: bringing his you know, his clan. They've got a bunch
Speaker 1: of comedians and stuff that are around. So it's just fun.
Speaker 1: That's not an environment that I necessarily grew up in
Speaker 1: grew grew up in, so I enjoyed, you know, open
Speaker 1: into those people.
Speaker 3: Very cool. Coach, I got two more for you. I
Speaker 3: don't know if Jimmy has any other ones, but first one,
Speaker 3: you know, we always like to talk to people like
Speaker 3: coach Gary and yourself that are doing things down south
Speaker 3: and the coaches at Wingate is you know, how do
Speaker 3: you how do you navigate you know, early summer camp
Speaker 3: and maybe early fall and then you know, on the
Speaker 3: back end of it going into the championship part of
Speaker 3: the track season when when it's you're dealing with some
Speaker 3: some temperatures and some humidity, how do you how did
Speaker 3: you manage to schedule out practices and handle the Yeahshville.
Speaker 1: And I'm dealing with the same thing and just cold
Speaker 1: right now, which I wouldn't I wouldn't have expected. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think we we definitely ease into the fall. We
Speaker 1: go early, so our two workouts are typically at six
Speaker 1: am in their long runs in the morning in the fall.
Speaker 1: And so you have to have kids that go to
Speaker 1: sleep too, Like, if you don't have kids that sleep well,
Speaker 1: you know, it'll eat them alive and by the middle
Speaker 1: of the season like your toast. And so I think
Speaker 1: that you have to have trust that the kids are
Speaker 1: going to get seven eight hours of sleep a night,
Speaker 1: that you can go early and beat the heat. But yeah,
Speaker 1: our first month is tough, but the top kids aren't racing.
Speaker 1: You know, we're fortunate that we can really kind of
Speaker 1: we've gotten good enough, or we can put our eggs
Speaker 1: in the big meats kind of middle to end of
Speaker 1: the season when it's starting to cool off. But it's
Speaker 1: a grind and so just kind of doing everything we
Speaker 1: can to not like cook the kids early that they
Speaker 1: can have success later and then as it like it
Speaker 1: gets real hot again at the end of track. But
Speaker 1: a lot of times you're used to that, then we
Speaker 1: could go early. But we've had a lot of like
Speaker 1: middle distance success at the end of the season, and
Speaker 1: the kids like they love the train and the heat,
Speaker 1: so I mean, thankfully hasn't been a big factor. We
Speaker 1: have definitely been ones that have been proponents of using
Speaker 1: like heat training and then also ice vests and like
Speaker 1: using all the sports science tools we need to get
Speaker 1: ready for heat or kind of cool off when it's
Speaker 1: hot too.
Speaker 3: All right, was that do you think being in Wisconsin
Speaker 3: at Nationals do you think coming from from the South
Speaker 3: that had getting up in those colder conditions at the
Speaker 3: end of the season, where you guys, did you been
Speaker 3: doing some cold Yeah, getting ready for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was tough too because we we had a
Speaker 1: regional you know, eight days before in Florida, so we went, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we went to Tallahassee and then eight days later in
Speaker 1: Wisconsin and it snowed, you know, two days before I
Speaker 1: think it was so Yeah, we were a weird, weird
Speaker 1: position where we were in like shorts eight days before
Speaker 1: that and then racing in the cold. Thankfully, I didn't
Speaker 1: get as cold it was as it was supposed to.
Speaker 1: So they handled it. They handled it fine, And honestly,
Speaker 1: a lot of our kids are from the Midwest or
Speaker 1: in places like that, so sure it wasn't a shock
Speaker 1: to them, right, And.
Speaker 3: That's what I had. I heard you talk, I believe
Speaker 3: was with the with the athletic director talking about, you know,
Speaker 3: some some ways to maybe grow the sport or increase
Speaker 3: get some new fans. You know, you heard you're talking
Speaker 3: about maybe some dual meets and those sorts of things.
Speaker 3: Can you maybe touch on that, you know, I, like
Speaker 3: Jimmy said, we grew up as track geeks and you know,
Speaker 3: spend many saturdays an all day track meet, and you know,
Speaker 3: I think sometimes those long drawn out things, even from
Speaker 3: a wrestling perspective, it's tough to get new fans and
Speaker 3: to create new fans. So I was wondering, you know,
Speaker 3: if you had some ideas on that.
Speaker 1: Sort of stubject.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was actually just listening to a guy yesterday. It
Speaker 1: was someone in wrestling, and it was on YouTube. As
Speaker 1: I'm like watching us, I'm falling asleep or something, but
Speaker 1: talking about duel meets, and I do think, like in
Speaker 1: a Division one right now, some of those selling out
Speaker 1: and being really big fan you know, draw us for fans,
Speaker 1: and so I do think there's a place in our
Speaker 1: sport for that. And I also think, like I've always
Speaker 1: had a crazy idea of doing a state meet, Like
Speaker 1: I don't know why every every state doesn't have every
Speaker 1: state for the universities and colleges don't have a state meet,
Speaker 1: Like why is there not a Tennessee state meet that
Speaker 1: would be prior to you know, your conference championships, your
Speaker 1: regional championships. You know, like every high school kid would come.
Speaker 1: You'd get so much attention if if that was the case,
Speaker 1: it doesn't allow people to get at large points, and
Speaker 1: you know, the big schools don't want to lose to
Speaker 1: the small schools. And I understand there's the politics of it,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think there are ways, whether it's dual
Speaker 1: meets or creative ways, like a cross country state meet
Speaker 1: in college. You know, I think you would get a
Speaker 1: lot of interest in that kind of thing. And because
Speaker 1: I do think like cross country is super exciting, like
Speaker 1: that national meet, if you have an athletic director or
Speaker 1: someone that's never been before and then you bring them there.
Speaker 1: I had that when I was at Elon. You know,
Speaker 1: our athletic director I had never been to a cross
Speaker 1: country meet probably ever, and then his first meet was
Speaker 1: the national meet, and he was like, this might be
Speaker 1: the coolest thing I've ever seen, you know, just like
Speaker 1: it is exciting. All schools are against each other. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't have like great answers to that,
Speaker 1: but I think there are definitely ways to draw people in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I will say we had when I was at
Speaker 3: MoMath University, they used to have a New Jersey College
Speaker 3: country Championships. Yeah, we had the junior colleges and the three,
Speaker 3: the Division three and the Division one schools running all
Speaker 3: at once. It was it was exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we had it. When I was in school in Michigan,
Speaker 1: we had that two Michigan Intercollegiates and most of the
Speaker 1: time all the schools came. It was awesome. But that,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, that's kind of died. I don't know
Speaker 1: how many places still do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, coach bringing up that statement and rich saying all
Speaker 2: the divisions compete against each other. We follow a lot
Speaker 2: of Division two, a lot of anai A, a lot
Speaker 2: of D three, a lot of JUCO, and we've been
Speaker 2: seeing some anai A wrestling teams beating some good Division
Speaker 2: two teams being a smaller Division one school. Do you
Speaker 2: have any thoughts of that the more of the Marrier
Speaker 2: will take on any division. Do you think that hurts
Speaker 2: at all if you know, you guys go against a
Speaker 2: top Division two school and they get one over on you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. I mean, yeah, it would be
Speaker 1: I think it'd be good. It'd be a great coaching
Speaker 1: tool for me because, like you said, you know, I
Speaker 1: know you guys talked to Paul at win Gate, and
Speaker 1: I know Paul really well. He was our intern when
Speaker 1: I was at us A TF and he's an amazing job.
Speaker 1: But his team world, Yeah, they would whip our guys
Speaker 1: and so like that would be good for our guys
Speaker 1: to see an experience, and I would welcome that, you know,
Speaker 1: if you know that kind of thing. And I love
Speaker 1: seeing that. I love seeing when he brings his team
Speaker 1: to a D one meet and then they beat ivy
Speaker 1: big schools and top schools like that's that's fun. That's
Speaker 1: how I know. Again, I'm from Grand Valley, a D
Speaker 1: two school, and and that lifts him. Like I get
Speaker 1: so much joy out of beating big schools. That's half
Speaker 1: of what makes it fun for me.
Speaker 3: It's fun.
Speaker 2: We got us, coach. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that perspective.
Speaker 2: I think that's awesome. One last thing I have for
Speaker 2: you before we get in the final four. During the
Speaker 2: research of this podcast and seeing pictures of you, I'm.
Speaker 3: Like, who does he look like? Who does he look like?
Speaker 2: Do you ever get Ralph Ralph matchio?
Speaker 1: As a kid? I got that all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And my dad was like, he was into martial arts
Speaker 1: a lot and stuff, and so yeah, I got that
Speaker 1: all the time, Like karate kid, even though I can't.
Speaker 1: I couldn't. I couldn't karate chop anyone, but I have.
Speaker 1: I have done the you know, stand on one foot
Speaker 1: kick thing in my in my.
Speaker 3: Day grain kick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, final floor, Rich, let's do it, coach. Are you
Speaker 2: a coffee drinker.
Speaker 1: I'm not a coffee drinker, Okay, I'm I and I've
Speaker 1: thought about this, needing the caffeine, but I am a cool,
Speaker 1: cold drink drinker. I just don't like hot drinks. I
Speaker 1: think that's that's kind of what gets it for me.
Speaker 2: Cool I do cold bro that that's my thing. It's
Speaker 2: the easiest way to get some caffeine into my system.
Speaker 1: And I think that if I go that route, that's
Speaker 1: that's definitely how I would have to do it.
Speaker 4: All right, all right, coach, do you have any daily
Speaker 4: practices or rituals that you do on a regular basis
Speaker 4: to show up as the strongest version of Nick Polk?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good question. Not necessarily, Like I'm a
Speaker 1: big family person, so like I think, like obviously trying
Speaker 1: to see my kids and spend as much time with
Speaker 1: them every day that I can. I've also kind of realized,
Speaker 1: like I'm not the most social person ever, and so
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that's worked for me
Speaker 1: is in my job, Like I love the aspects of
Speaker 1: I can be in the office with like the door
Speaker 1: closed and just kind of like working on program stuff,
Speaker 1: travel stuff, Like I need some of that time whe
Speaker 1: I'm not around anybody, and then I can also then
Speaker 1: go outside and you know, talk with the kids and
Speaker 1: have fun and joke around and stuff. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I think for me, like a really good day is
Speaker 1: like a couple hours where I'm not talking to anybody
Speaker 1: and then a couple a couple of hours where I'm
Speaker 1: outside with the team. And I think for me, like
Speaker 1: some of my best days are those like I got
Speaker 1: to spend some time with my family, I went for
Speaker 1: a run, I had a little bit of alone time,
Speaker 1: and then I had some time at practice.
Speaker 3: That's a pretty good day, coach averted introvert.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's like, yeah, I wouldn't want to be
Speaker 1: inside all day at an office job, and I wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to be outside all day like a throws coach
Speaker 1: or you know some you know, but that like combo
Speaker 1: is perfect.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we can relate right Rich definitely, coach.
Speaker 2: What are you listening to right now? Music? Podcast, audio books?
Speaker 2: Are you reading anything?
Speaker 1: I am a big YouTube listener, so like like podcasts,
Speaker 1: I listen to weird history stuff, like a lot of
Speaker 1: world I was listening to. I'm like trying to redo
Speaker 1: a bathroom, well not on purpose, just because we had
Speaker 1: a water leak and I'm trying to I'm just really
Speaker 1: cheap and that's my d two days. So I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to do it myself. As honest, I can't. But
Speaker 1: I was just listening to some random World War two
Speaker 1: stuff and I don't know anything where I can learn
Speaker 1: a little bit. I like to try to learn something
Speaker 1: on history or self improvement. Or lead ship or you know,
Speaker 1: any anything like that's good.
Speaker 2: So I got a question and feel free to say,
Speaker 2: next question, what are your thoughts on the pyramids?
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, that's good. Yeah, they built by aliens or
Speaker 1: that's like a Joe Rogan that. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think it's really I think it's pretty crazy to think
Speaker 1: that those were actually built. I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: how they were were built. There's a lot of theories.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was aliens. I think I'll stay
Speaker 1: on stand on that.
Speaker 2: Do you think it was a power plant?
Speaker 1: I don't know what they say. There's also the one
Speaker 1: now that there's giant people four bigger. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's anything. Again, I'm not I'm not shocked by anything.
Speaker 1: If there's aliens, definitely could be possible. Giant people probably possible.
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a mild conspiracy theorist.
Speaker 2: I think we get down with pseudo history. So we've
Speaker 2: talked to some sas squatch guys. You've talked to some
Speaker 2: pseudo historians.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, you'll find what you're looking for, you know, Like,
Speaker 1: I absolutely love it.
Speaker 3: Do you have a coach, you have a favorite concert
Speaker 3: you've attended? Or been to while you've been to Nashville.
Speaker 1: That's a good question, honestly, not Like I've probably saw
Speaker 1: more concerts before I got to Nashville. So basically, like
Speaker 1: when we moved to Nashville, coincided and we had two kids, and.
Speaker 3: So we just cut out concerts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, one, I have morning practice all the time,
Speaker 1: and two with kids finding babysitters, it ends up being expensive.
Speaker 1: So I end up going to We're going to the
Speaker 1: Circus on Sunday. So that's about the exciting that I get.
Speaker 1: But no, I mean it's been fun, like, uh like
Speaker 1: some of our favorite bands, our kids go to school
Speaker 1: with the singers kids, you know, that kind of stuff like,
Speaker 1: and so it's been cool to have that perspective of
Speaker 1: like I've seen them in a concert and now my
Speaker 1: kids hanging out with their kids, you know. So you know,
Speaker 1: like just the Nashville kind of thing is fun in
Speaker 1: that way.
Speaker 3: On In fact, I can't from smash Mouth has been
Speaker 3: a guest on the podcast, so oh wow, his kids
Speaker 3: are in school down there. I don't know, I'd be
Speaker 3: a little bit older, but yeah, he was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you run into people all the time. Yeah, I see,
Speaker 1: like I saw the singer from Creed driving down the
Speaker 1: road the other day. You know, you're like literally, you
Speaker 1: know to like, shout out to Scott's Stap. Yeah, Scott
Speaker 1: STAPs saw him driving down the street.
Speaker 2: Shout out to Coach McGee too. He's gonna like that one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What a weird you know, what a what a crazy world.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like those people were real and they
Speaker 1: just got the kids off at school.
Speaker 3: Like I am, so, were you went to country music
Speaker 3: at all before you got there? Or are you?
Speaker 1: It's starting to grow on me a little bit. I
Speaker 1: was very anti. I was definitely just kind of rock
Speaker 1: or probably an emo punk, you know kid in high
Speaker 1: school and was pretty anti country. But I'm kind of
Speaker 1: open at this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it grows on you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, maybe it's just yeah, they getting old and
Speaker 1: maybe some of the stuff that they're talking about actually
Speaker 1: applies to my life at the right.
Speaker 3: Definitely, which last one we got for you, it's a
Speaker 3: fun one. I'm just curious. It could be food. Maybe
Speaker 3: it's a beverage. You know, you got young kids, maybe
Speaker 3: and you're in the Nashville. Maybe you're a closet swifty.
Speaker 3: Do you have a guilty pleasure.
Speaker 1: Oh that's a good Uh, that's a good question, man.
Speaker 1: What would it be? I don't know, Probably like ice
Speaker 1: cream or you know, I'm I have to try to
Speaker 1: prevent myself from eating sweets. But I can down have
Speaker 1: Ben and Jerry's little thing of ice cream pretty quick, so.
Speaker 3: That that probably be it, all right, any particular flavor,
Speaker 3: just Ben and Jerry's.
Speaker 1: Across tonight tonight dough? You ever had that?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, that's one at my fridgs right now. I might
Speaker 1: have after this. We'll see there you go.
Speaker 2: We are recovering wrestlers, so we've had them all. I
Speaker 2: understand that, coach, Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2: I know our listeners are sick to hearing me say this,
Speaker 2: but you got two new fans, the Lipscomb Track cross
Speaker 2: Country love having this conversation. If you love getting a
Speaker 2: program like you out to the masses. Hopefully the bright
Speaker 2: people who need this episode find this and find you
Speaker 2: in the program and nothing but the best from the area, bros.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, guys. Thanks thanks a bunch for happing
Speaker 1: me on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Nick, it was an honor pleasure to chat as
Speaker 3: you get to know you and hear more about the program,
Speaker 3: and like Jimmy said, we'll be we'll be rooting for
Speaker 3: you all through the indoor and outdoor and getting excited
Speaker 3: and fired up for next cross country season. So the
Speaker 3: best of luck to you and all of the men
Speaker 3: and women of the Bison program.
Speaker 1: Thank you, appreciate it all.
Speaker 3: Right, y'all. Another episode air Bros Radio in the books
Speaker 3: make sure you go over to the socials gives the
Speaker 3: Lipscomb Track and Field across country team a follow If
Speaker 3: you are a student athlete and the things that you
Speaker 3: heard tonight kind of resonate with you and who you
Speaker 3: are as an individual and as an athlete. As a student,
Speaker 3: give coach a shout and see if we can get
Speaker 3: that pipeline going from the area Bros Over down to Nashville.
Speaker 3: It sounds like they've got a lot of good things
Speaker 3: going on and it's in a cool place. You never
Speaker 3: heard who you might run into.