Have you ever wondered how the challenges and rewards of fatherhood can intertwine with the thrills of coaching basketball?
Mo Hines, a seasoned AAU basketball coach and former assistant at Washington State University, graces our show with stories that blend the hardwood intensity with the heartwarming parenting moments. As we navigate through Mo's experiences, we find ourselves immersed in a world where the support of a loving spouse is the cornerstone of raising children and where recognizing and nurturing each child's unique journey becomes a father's paramount task.
As I learned more about Mo, he would share tales that traverse our personal and professional lives, revealing how a childhood in Baltimore and a pivotal move to Seattle has shaped the trajectory of his path. Mo offers insights into the intricate dance of family dynamics, the joy of watching his kids grow up, and the profound impact of learning about parenting from so many kids he has coached.
Our conversation goes beyond basketball as we touch on the delicate balance of instilling discipline while fostering emotional intelligence in the next generation. Mo also vulnerably shares his personal relationship with the late Kobe Bryant, who has left an indelible mark on him and the world.
Wrapping up the episode, Mo and I step back to appreciate the broader lessons of diversity, leadership, and the pursuit of personal growth. Listeners are invited to ponder how empathy and curiosity can power the engine of problem-solving in both coaching and parenting. With Mo's heartfelt anecdotes and my reflections, we close the chapter on this episode with a laugh, a nod to the collective wisdom of all the remarkable fathers and mothers out there, and an affirmation of our shared commitment to becoming better versions of ourselves for the sake of our children and the communities we influence.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Have you ever wondered how the challenges and rewards of fatherhood can intertwine with the thrills of coaching basketball?
Mo Hines, a seasoned AAU basketball coach and former assistant at Washington State University, graces our show with stories that blend the hardwood intensity with the heartwarming parenting moments. As we navigate through Mo's experiences, we find ourselves immersed in a world where the support of a loving spouse is the cornerstone of raising children and where recognizing and nurturing each child's unique journey becomes a father's paramount task.
As I learned more about Mo, he would share tales that traverse our personal and professional lives, revealing how a childhood in Baltimore and a pivotal move to Seattle has shaped the trajectory of his path. Mo offers insights into the intricate dance of family dynamics, the joy of watching his kids grow up, and the profound impact of learning about parenting from so many kids he has coached.
Our conversation goes beyond basketball as we touch on the delicate balance of instilling discipline while fostering emotional intelligence in the next generation. Mo also vulnerably shares his personal relationship with the late Kobe Bryant, who has left an indelible mark on him and the world.
Wrapping up the episode, Mo and I step back to appreciate the broader lessons of diversity, leadership, and the pursuit of personal growth. Listeners are invited to ponder how empathy and curiosity can power the engine of problem-solving in both coaching and parenting. With Mo's heartfelt anecdotes and my reflections, we close the chapter on this episode with a laugh, a nod to the collective wisdom of all the remarkable fathers and mothers out there, and an affirmation of our shared commitment to becoming better versions of ourselves for the sake of our children and the communities we influence.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder, and this is my dad show. Hey everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast and, as I promised, we do finally have a new and exciting sponsor that's going to be joining us over the next 13 weeks or so, and they it is called the authentic edge podcast, which is going to be launching very, very soon. It is a podcast that is led by the fantastic and successful Jason DeLuca and executive sales and people leader at Dexian, as well as with a Paul DeFrancenzo, who is a global sales leader at indeedcom. This podcast, authentic edge, as I mentioned, is, is launching in the next month and it's really about a journey into the heart and genuine relationships into the workplace. So they're going to talk about uncovering the profound impact that authenticity has on establishing instant trust, fostering long-term partnerships, as well as creating serendipitous connections that evolve into endearing business and personal relationships, which is exactly how I would describe my relationship with Jason and Paul. So, without further ado, let's get right to the next episode and I hope that you check out the authentic edge wherever you consume your podcasts.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast. We're in season five and I'm I'm very excited for our next guest who came to us through the wide world of basketball. Actually, I first heard about this gentleman when my niece played for him. My daughter had a chance to play for him. He's a former Washington State University Cougar basketball assistant. He's one of the top AAU coaches trainers in the United States. He currently coaches the Nike EYBL 17U program at Tria Hope Civic Courts and he's also a member of the Elite is Earned coaching staff. But with all that said, we're here to talk to Mo Hines about the life of a dad and how he's working hard to become that ultimate quarterback, or maybe point guard, of his household. So, without further ado, mr Hines, welcome to the quarterback dad cast thanks.
Speaker 1:Thank you thanks for having me, yeah, we finally, we finally made it, we finally got it. That's what I was going to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, finally made this, this happen. Yeah, I've been excited for it, though. I've been really looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:So well, it's going to be fun. Well, we start out each episode with gratitude. So tell me, what are you most grateful for as a dad today?
Speaker 2:God, my wife and kids. She's my backbone man. I mean she does you know so much for us. You know, without her, god, I don't know what I'd be doing like right now, you know, just keeping me in check, you know. You know one of the reasons you know I tell people why I married her, you know, is because she's's, you know, not afraid to tell me, you know that I'm wrong or or doing something the wrong way. You know, and I I love that about her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, most, most good marriages that the wife usually puts us in check. Um, oh yeah, because us dudes we need, we need to that humble, humbleness about us. So and I think sometimes the wives have this, that one thing I always tell dads don't mess with as a mother's intuition.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's like a superpower.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm, I'm, you know, learning that the hard way because my kids are young, right. So I'm kind of just going through that, you know, especially like when our kids get sick, you know I'm like, oh no, we got to take it. And she's like you don't listen to me, I know, and she's usually right.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm grateful for my. So my kids are a different stage in years. I I'm I've had a lot of this epiphanies this week about. I have, obviously, you know, riley, but my other, my older son, ryder, he's a he'll be a freshman in college in the fall, which I can't even believe that's happening. And I think I think, as dads or parents, we work so hard to like try to form the right habits. You try to like you know, whether it's mainly it's like finding their passion and then exploiting it and having them be able to like drive the journey, whether it's, you know, ceramics, woodshop, hoop, football, golf, doesn't matter what a band, just finding, helping them find the right passion.
Speaker 1:And I am very grateful that both our kids have found their passion and um um, it's just, it's fun seeing um, like the things we've worked hard on as parents that start to see like the maybe sometimes their daily rewards of just like work ethic and uh, I'm very grateful for that I've had. I've seen that this week in both my kids and it's just something I don't take lightly because I never wanted it to be my journey. I always joke with both my kids that said dad has zero eligibility left. So this is your journey, I'll support you, but you got to be the one to drive it.
Speaker 2:You'd be surprised how many people don't understand that you know they try to step into that journey with their kids. Like no man, you can't, like yeah, like it's, it's not your ride. We, we all had our chance right. We all had our you know time where you know it was our journey, you know. But you gotta kind of let the kid walk and uh, you know, the position you know I've been in over the last 20 years is uh, and, like I said, my kids are young um is watching other parents, you know you're learning from other parents.
Speaker 2:You know, um, and I think that's, you know, one of the you know things that has made me you know. I think that a good parent is watching other parents and how they, you know, handle their kid and handling with sports and you know, uh, what you let them do, what you don't let them, you know, handle their kid and handling with sports and you know what you let them do, what you don't let them do. You know discipline, and, yeah, it's been all the families that I've been around coaching that has, you know, really helped mentor me, you know, into, you know, being the parent I am.
Speaker 1:Love it. Well, let's go inside the Heinz huddle, tell me about. Tell me a little bit maybe about how your wife met, and then talk about your children.
Speaker 2:Okay, so a funny story how me and my wife met. So her dad's actually a basketball coach too. He was coaching Kennedy Catholic, and so I knew him before I knew her, and I'll never forget this. We were at, I was coaching a game and he was helping me out, and she comes in, she comes in to watch the game and she has our stepdaughter on her hip, you know. And she comes in and his name is Willie and she talks to him like hey, willie, you know how you doing. And you know, I'm like who is that? And then she walks away.
Speaker 2:She kind of goes up in the stands and I go oh man, I see you, willie, man, you got a hot wife, man, you know, I'm telling him up. And he goes Mo, that's my daughter. And I go, oh, okay, all right, that's funny. And so that was the the first time I saw her and my interaction with her. And then, um, a couple months later, uh, they used to do a really big halloween party and they invited me to the halloween party to try to set us up. Uh, it kind of, you know, went from there. We, you know, started talking and hanging out and boom, just kind of hit it off.
Speaker 1:Wow, and when was that?
Speaker 2:God, I'm trying to think. It's probably been about seven years, seven, eight years ago. Okay, how long have?
Speaker 3:you been married.
Speaker 2:Jayden's five. We've been married three.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, so you guys have, so then talk about kids, you have stepkids, and then you guys created a kid. Did I hear that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she had already had a daughter, violet, and she's nine, and then there's Jaden that we have together, and then we have Alex, who's one. So we got one, five and nine Busy Full house. Yes, oh yeah, there we go.
Speaker 1:Love it Well, and is Violet or Jaden? Are they into hoop yet?
Speaker 2:So Violet was, and then she just stopped playing. She doesn't really love it and I thought she was pretty good. She was very feisty and kind of really got after it. We had her playing with boys and yeah, she just didn't love it. I think she wants to be a gymnast. She's more into gymnastics. We buy this little balance bar that sits in her room and she's always swinging on that thing. So I think that's what she wants to be is a gymnast. I hope she picks the ball back up one day. But yeah, but I, you know, like you were saying earlier, I I won't push my kids into anything. You know, um, I want them to decide for themselves and, uh, they're going to do something. You know, I don't care what it is. You can play piano, right. Uh, you can be a soccer player, you can be a quarterback, you can be a forward, you can do whatever you want, but it's going to be something that you put 100% in Now.
Speaker 1:When you said gymnastics, you gave me flashbacks, because I remember when my daughter Riley was in gymnastics. It was the scariest thing to watch, because you can see these girls climbing ropes. They're like 30 feet in the air and then I'm like where's like the net and like I don't have one.
Speaker 2:I was so stressful I didn't know she did gymnastics.
Speaker 1:Like for a year and maybe a couple of years and, um, I mean, it wasn't her jam, she liked it. But, like I've tried, I mean I got her into golf and she was like a really natural at that. And then she takes, she, her first tournament. She takes second place and then quits I'm good, dad, I won't play. I'm like what? Oh, wow, you can, you can play basketball and golf. It's like, no, I don't want to do it, it's like it's. I'm like it. Um well, and you know it's funny about pushing like. So it's funny, I play football, um through at, and I've played it at central and um, sometimes people will say you know, why don't your son play football like he played flag, I just I same thing, I didn't want to push it like.
Speaker 1:I think you saw some of my body breaking down at times and he's, I think, for he said man, I don't want, I don't want to go through that, I'd rather just so. He was a basketball kid and then kovid shut that down. Then he, he picked up golf, like right during like kovid, like big time, picked it up, and that's where he got. He got um a lot better and he's off. He's gonna play golf at a smaller school called southern oregon in the fall. Oh nice, okay, so it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1:It's kind of surreal. I played against southern oregon when was at Central, so it's kind of surreal that, uh, I have a picture of my dad actually before he passed away. My senior year I'm actually looking at it right now from um 1998 was one of my last games down there, and I remember when Ryder was on his recruiting trip, I went to that end zone and just was like it's pretty cool, like kind of memory, just to be there. That's hard to believe how fast that time went by. But um, man, well, I always, like one of the questions I love asking dads is to have them go back in time a little bit, and so I'd love to have you like share what was life like growing up for you and talk about the impact your parents had on you now that you're a dad so it's.
Speaker 2:It's actually, uh, my, my upbringing is kind of crazy. Uh, I actually grew up in, uh, baltimore. You know a lot of people don't know this. Uh, yeah, I grew up in Baltimore. You know a lot of people don't know this. Yeah, I grew up in Baltimore. All my family lives back in Baltimore my grandparents, my brothers, my aunts and uncles, my cousins everyone lives in Baltimore. I ended up in Seattle.
Speaker 2:My dad was in the military, he was in the Army and stationed at Fort Lewis. My dad was in the military, he was in the army and stationed at Fort Lewis and then he got out of the army. He wanted to stay in Seattle. He loved Seattle and my mom at the time felt that, yeah, you need to go out with your dad, you need a father figure in your life. Baltimore's rough, really rough city and, like me and my two brothers I have two brothers really tough upbringing my dad wasn't really there because he was in the military. He was always gone. He was stationed in Germany for a long time and so, you know, with my dad not being there, you know, and my mom having, you know her troubles and you know um doing the stuff that you know she got into.
Speaker 2:You know, me and my brothers were, you know, stuck in inner city Baltimore, you know, running around not going to school, you know, uh, my oldest brother's getting like getting big trouble, um, and finally my mom was like no, you need to go out and you know, be with your father and be with the father figure. And that's how I ended up in Seattle. But, like so, my oldest brother, he got into like a lot of trouble growing up and you know it's something that straightened him out. Becoming a dad straightened him out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know he started to look at like like their lives, you know, and you know, making sure that they get raised the right way and looking back at like what happened with us and how we, you know, were raised and both of my brothers unbelievable dads, yeah, like all their kids gone to college. You know, my brother didn't even finish high school and now his kids are, you know, in college, you know, right now. So, yeah, I, I tell people that all the time, you know, just seeing like what happens, like when you don't have that father figure, and I've made all three of us become good father figures you're not the first person to say what's interesting is like you, you think, sometimes counterintuitively, like, well, if you didn't have a like, a good role model, maybe you'd be.
Speaker 1:And there's sure, I'm sure there's kids have gone down the wrong path. But there's a lot of people I've interviewed on this five-year journey. I've been on that like they're the most present, hands-on, because it's almost like you're you'd want to do to your kids or provide for your kids, but maybe you didn't have or was missing right now. Is your dad still with us?
Speaker 2:yeah, he is, he is, uh, he actually lives in tacoma. Yeah, okay, yeah, lives in tacoma. Um, yeah, after the military he just stayed up here in seattle. So my, my dad and my stepmom um lived down in tacoma. Um, yeah, so my stepmom's german. So my dad met her over in germany, you know, and then they came back here. So mom has passed away. Mom passed away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my dad, my mom's still with us, but my dad he passed away. He had like a 15-year run of just really bad health. He had a rap sheet and eventually I it was eventually alzheimer's. They said that that took him. Or dementia, ah gotcha, yeah, and sometimes I wish man like my dad was like the most hands-on, uh crazy dad in the stands, like seeing him, you know, watch his grandkids. I just I know that he would have been. He would have been freaking bananas probably would have been teed up a couple of times. What. So where and where do your brothers live now? They both live in Baltimore, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they still live back in Baltimore.
Speaker 1:Okay, so did your did from like a values perspective. Like you know, hard work, grit, resilience. I'm sure you learned a lot of those through, like just being around tough environments. But were there, did your, did your bros, brothers ever help with that?
Speaker 2:So, uh, it's so little part of the story. I was going to uh, so uh, with my dad being gone and my mom, you know, running around city having her grandparents, uh, old school, um, uh, married all the way way through, um, both my granddads are, are passed away now, but um, but like, uh, church going, um, you know strict, uh, grandparents, you know, um, and so some of those goals or values I should say were instilled from them. You know my grandma's, you know the person that actually taught me, like, how to be a great person, how to be, you know, polite to everyone. It's funny because my wife, you know my wife went back with me a couple years ago ago and she was so surprised that I say yes, ma'am, to my grandparents. But that's how I was raised. It's yes, ma'am, yes, sir, you know my granddad.
Speaker 2:He drove a cab over 40 years. Wow, yeah, over 40 years. If you ever see me like go, go out to a restaurant or anything, I'll always tip, doesn't matter what it is, I'll always tip. If there's a tip to be paid, I'm going to tip. And the reason why is because I was raised off of tips.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and my grandfather got up every day. Got up every day about 5 am, drove out to the airport, got a couple of fares there and drove around the city. Got a couple of fares for over 40 years, hardworking man.
Speaker 1:Wow, what were some of the biggest values your grandparents taught you, that's, you know huge.
Speaker 2:I want to say kind of love, you know, like they really show love. You know, some families I think you know don't show enough, you know, but we were like really like a family.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you said love and respect from like a values perspective. As you think about like what your, what your grandparents taught you and your brothers, like what were, like the maybe the non-negotiables, like this, these are the things that were raising you know, our rules, our house, like what were some things that, like you really took from them that you're going to now pass on to your kids.
Speaker 2:Funny because one of them there's no talking back. There we go. Yeah, they didn't allow it, you know, um uh, they uh, uh. Let's see as far as like, like, just rules, I would say just like it goes to that respect thing. You know, uh, and the talking back. I guess you always respected your elders.
Speaker 1:I would say what about, like I know, like body language. Body language is big in the basketball world, in any sport I mean. I know. For me in my house it's like if you want to see me go nuts or lose my patience quickly on both of my kids, it's like body language and so that's something we work on, like since they've been young. Um, is that something that was taught from your grandparents?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, you know there was no pouting um, and you know, uh, they didn't allow me to just like cry. You know, um, and you know we kind of live into we live in a different age these days, you know um, but, like you know, I just remember my grandparents saying you know, like, if you're gonna cry, I'm gonna give you something to cry about. So stop crying. And we'd straighten up real quick it is.
Speaker 1:It's crazy how much like it has changed, like the different generations of um, just like, or you call it emotional intelligence, whatever you want to call it, but like it's just a such a different world of like you know, we're now like vulnerability is a big thing, like talking about your feelings, talking about how, which I'm a big, I'm a big believer of. I think sometimes, when we keep that stuff in it, just it, it doesn't allow us to be our best version of ourself, cause it's like you're, you're kind of squashing these emotions that are eventually going to come out good or bad somehow. Yeah, but it is just a totally, totally different time. Now, growing up, when did you start knowing that the game of basketball was like something you?
Speaker 2:loved. Well, god man and I tend to believe it because it was late for me. I really started playing the game late and I think I really fell in love with it around sixth, seventh grade. Okay, I started off playing a little bit of football and I kind of just really did what my older brother did Whatever he did I thought was cool, and he played both football and basketball to a certain age. And then so basketball I just he, you know, would go up to the court with a couple guys and I was the sixth guy and they would go up there and they'd have their five-minute game on the court and I had to watch and I was like no man, I want to play, you know, I want to be good at this, you know. And so that's when I started to fall in love with it.
Speaker 1:Who? So that's when I started to fall in love with it. Who were your mentors growing up with hoops besides your brothers Like where did you learn the skills or fundamentals or things like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, I really didn't have too many like strong mentors growing up in the game until like late, and so my parents are like not in the sports at all late. And uh, so my my parents are like not in the sports at all, like, and my grandma would watch the lakers at times, you know, as he like fell asleep, you know, because it was the east coast, you know, but like other than that, you know, they weren't really like in the sports. My grandparents were very religious, um and uh, so I was the only one that really played in my, my entire family, wow. And so I learned by just going out to the court and watching.
Speaker 1:It's crazy how some of these these stories happen. I'm always intrigued by like you know. Sometimes it's like, if you're like you know coaches, um, I think of like there's some high school coaches around here. They're like you know, your kids both son or daughter gym rats and they're just in the gym nonstop, and so it's like it's almost like osmosis. They're just around it and you just you learn to be good or some like it's funny, I'm like both my kids in sports.
Speaker 1:Like I was okay at hoop, I was okay at golf in high school. Now those are, but I was better at football, but those are my, my kids get their cardio because it wasn't for me football these lives. You know, I played for seven seconds and I got to rest. You know, for which is I'm really good at resting mo, I'll tell you that. Um, hey, me too, man. Um, what about like, uh, so you, you grow up grandparents. Uh, you, you get through high school, did you go on to college or did you get right into hoop and coaching? Talk about that for a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I didn't get a ride right out of high school and I went on to play junior college. And while I was playing junior college, actually I had found Emerald City Emerald City basketball academy is kind of still around and that's where I started working out and training with a guy, jason Baskett, who owned it. Found Emerald City Emerald City basketball academy is kind of still around that's where I started working out and training with a guy, jason Baskin, who owned it. It's kind of like 21, 22 years old. Between time, because I needed a little bit of money, I started training, I started working out girls From you know. He thought that I would be a good coach. You know, because I was actually yelling at one of my buddies, he wasn't going hard enough, we were working out earlier, so so he thought that I would be a good coach and I had actually got into coaching from that point. So I only played two years of junior college Okay, where was that at? I played one at Olympic and one at Shoreline.
Speaker 1:Okay, and do you miss playing competing? Or is coaching filling your tank on that side now?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you know. But like you get to that age where you're just like, oh man, I don't feel like hurting all week. I'm not playing today. So yeah, I mean I'd say about a good you know five years ago. You know it's bigger, you know, than playing with me, you know, because you're kind of absorbing the stuff that happens like around you. Um, but yeah, I mean I don't like just hit the la fitness anymore. Man, it's like this ain't working like I'm good. I actually play a little bit of pickleball now, which is funny like people always laugh when I tell them I play see that I'm out on that sport too.
Speaker 1:I got buddies that make fun of me. I'm like that because that quick agility stuff and I know that my competitive genes are going to kick in and I lay out for a ball Next thing you know, I got scoliosis for 43 years. It's like I walk, I do old man CrossFit and I play golf and I feel like that's going to eliminate most chances to get hurt. I feel like that's going to eliminate most chances to get hurt. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Man, I feel like that with playing. You know the girls, you know they laugh at me. You know sometimes and I'm just like, yeah, my body's not going to like, take that like yours is. You'll be okay in a day. Two weeks is going to be me. So, yeah, I'm not going down that road.
Speaker 1:Well, it's funny, like when your kids get older, like for me, like I see whether it's my son or riley, like they'll do things. I'm like, oh my god, I would be sore for like a month, and then next morning we breakfast. I'm like, hey, how's the body phone good? I'm like really like, even after that, like dove on the floor, like no, I'm good, I'm like all right, whatever. But it's like it's crazy, you, it's hard to to remember that at one time our bodies used to be able to take that, but I just turned 48. I'm like, man, I don't think so. That is not going to happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I used to play every day Wow, like every single day for hours. Yeah, not anymore.
Speaker 1:Wow, how did you get involved with the Storm? I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when I came back from Washington State, I had a buddy His name was Ryan Webb, he used to be their assistant coach Okay, he had asked me to come out. He was like, hey, mo, we need guys to come on and scrimmage against the women. And I was like, yeah, man, I'll come out, I'll come on and scrimmage against the, the, the women. And I was like, yeah, man, I'll come out, I'll come out and check it out. And at that time, yeah, I was playing a lot, right, so it's like you know. And so got there and everybody was awesome. You know, jenny Bouchek was the coach at the time and she was very welcoming. You know, like, the other guys we played with were good. It was structured, you know. And then the girls were awesome, like Sue Bird she's still a friend of mine to this day. You know, oh, wow, yeah. So, yeah, it was just good vibes. That's why I just stuck with it. You know, yeah, this would be like year 10, I think, wow, if I can hold up, I don't just get torched.
Speaker 1:And for everybody listening at home, I don't know what we're talking about. We're talking about the WNBA Seattle Storm. I don't know who. Sue Bird is One of the all-time best point guards in the history of the NBA. Played for the Storm for years. Love watching her play. Actually, not last year when the NCAA women came to the Climate Pledge my wife, carrie and Riley the climate pledge my wife, my wife, carrie and Riley. They were there and Sue Bird was like two rows in front of them and I'm so, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:It's when she gets, she walks in there. It's like the place stops, it's pretty cool, well, and what's cool.
Speaker 1:So I my I'm so glad my wife and we're usually not this do this, but I'm glad my wife went outside of her comfort zone. She goes, riley, go get a picture of Sue, Like she just took another girl and so she was like nervous and do it. And so Sue walked up the stairs and Riley's like, hey, mrs Bird, can I please have a picture? She said sure, and we had this like fantastic picture of it and Riley looks like almost like a mini me of her, because that's short, dark hair girls. Um, and she was so nice and welcoming and, um, just what a fun. She was such a fun girl to watch play yeah, it's a fun girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's amazing, so down to earth, wow, yeah, so so cool yeah well, I remember too, when we uh, when I first started to know you better you you told me that um, you you might have coached against uh or or had some kobe stories. Rest in peace, kobe. Um, yeah, what you can share that maybe the audience at home you know sports dads might might like to hear what. Tell me what? What's maybe a story or two that comes to mind that the people might might enjoy hearing yeah, um, you know, uh.
Speaker 2:So I, we went down god, it was right before COVID and it was with the 2024 graduating class and you know, katie Fiso, he was really, really I don't know, just attracted to how she played the game. You know, it was almost like, you know, he kind of flocked to mentor, you know, and you know you kind of see a lot of stories of him doing that with, like Haley Van Lith or Sabrina, and a tough story. It's kind of a sad story. I was talking with him the day before, wow, yeah. Him the day before, wow, yeah, I, I still have the uh text messages on my phone, me and him going like back and forth because our team was the last game they played, that was the last game he coached. Wow, yeah, yep.
Speaker 2:And you know I ended up talking to him, um, that night and, uh, you know, just going back and forth about like who they were going to play the next day. And you know he ended up telling me that you know katie was the best kid that he had seen in the grade. Yeah, it was. It's it's kind of a sad story. And then the next day, you know they never made it back to the gym. We were in the gym playing a game and the whole place just stopped. And the whole place just stopped.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah, I remember this was. I was still like in a, I joked, I called myself. This is when the game quickly outgrew me, which I was like thank God, I checked the ego. I'm like man. There's people that know the game better than me and they need to be coaching, like my daughter and the girls around me. So I was like the culture coach. We used to kind of like make, make a little tongue in cheek, but I was like more, at least the, the, the quarterback gave me I could still bring like positive energy and hold people accountable around, like how you treat teammates, that type of stuff.
Speaker 1:Remember I was sitting on the bench and the ref. We took call timeout and I remember the ref came up to me. He him up to me, goes, hey, kobe just passed. I was like wait, what? Yeah, he had this look in his face like and I was like there's no way, that's true. And then I looked at I looked at josh or my friend who you know, and I'm like dude, I think kobe just passed and they're like what? And like the whole gym. It was almost like we were in denial and um and then watching it and then shoot. I remember watching the funeral. I remember remember watching with my wife and Riley, my son, and we all were crying.
Speaker 2:It was so it's like the world stopped at that point, man, yeah.
Speaker 1:His daughter. Such a bright future for him and his daughter. Right it was, and he did things like such the I don't know. There's so many people that probably don't realize how hard he worked and the stories of his like work ethic is like unbelievable.
Speaker 2:Oh, oh it was. And you know he was kind of instilling that same work ethic into the Mamba Girls. They really practiced every day of the week, you know, and he was trying to change the culture, the hoop culture. You know, I think he stumbled upon it because his daughter started playing, but you know he looked at it and this ain't right. No, it's, it's, it's going to change.
Speaker 2:You know, I know he had a lot of respect for, you know, our team because of kind of the way we played the game. You know it was a little bit different than you know our team because of kind of the way we played the game. You know it was a little bit different than you know a lot of the teams they had played like there was no like rolling the ball out, there was strong execution and discipline and and kids playing with heart, you know, and he saw that and he flocked to it. Another funny story is, you know, so we go down and he's doing the mama cups at the time and you know we ended up. You know, so we go down and he's doing the Mama Cups at the time and you know we ended up.
Speaker 2:You know meeting, you know through a friend, or you know, he ended up having us, you know, come down through to a friend and he watched our team. We played them. He watched our team but he wasn't there. I think he was at his older daughter's volleyball game and we beat him pretty good. But he went back and he watched the film and he's like, oh man, this group is pretty good, we gotta invite them down. So we go down to this first Mama Cup thing. I don't know what to expect. Amazing tournament, great tournament. And then, after the game, and we played them, and he comes up to me and he's like, hey see, man is going to be some good stuff. And I'm like, yeah, man, it's Kobe Bryant right, he's like yeah, man.
Speaker 2:I'm like thanks, thanks for inviting me. Man. He's like, yeah, man, you guys got to come down to the next one. I'm like, ok, and so we had a mutual friend and in the sports academy they used to sit up at the top and no one went up to the top. You know, my buddy's like, hey, do you want to go up there and meet Kobe? And I go, yeah, all right, let's go, man, you know, so we go up to the top, you know, and you know I'm kind of quiet, you know, cause I don't want to know what to say. You know, I don't know how Kobe Bryant is. Sometimes superstars are kind of arrogant, so I'm kind of quiet. And we ended up talking and he was really cool, like down to earth, like asking me what I thought about certain things. Wow, so it was so, yeah, unexpected.
Speaker 2:So we fly back home and I know he's starting to follow me on Instagram, right. So now he's following me on Instagram. What he's following me on Instagram? He's following me and Katie, right. So I said, all right, all right, so I'm going to test this a little bit. You know, I'm going to, I'm going to send him a message, right, I'm going to send him a DM real quick, you know, if he responds to it, you know like, hey, kobe, what's up? Man, I wanted to link up with you. You know, here's my number, man, you know, let me know, you know. And so I don't hear anything from him and I'm just like, oh okay, surprise, you know, just big time, you know like it's whatever, you know.
Speaker 2:So a couple days later, you know, I get a call from Orange Coast and I'm like orange coast, anybody like orange coast, california, you know. And I start to think about it and I'm like, was that kobe? Because I didn't answer the call, yeah, straight to voicemail and I was like you, big time, kobe, right, and I and I, uh, he sends me a message and in my dm he's like hey, man, what's man? I tried to reach out to you, man, what's going on? I like, and I'm like, oh man, you gotta be kidding me. I just did that to Kobe Bryant, yeah, and so from that, from then on, you know, we started to kind of build a relationship. You know, we would message back and forth. You know, we went down there like once a month, because our team, like it, never lost, you know. And so we went down there once a month to play the best teams. Yeah, up until yeah, that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for those that don't know, this 2024 group is a special group that you've coached, mo, and I think how many I think all of them are going D1. I mean, seems like a lot of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of them. I think Fiso just got Gatorade Player of the Year. She's headed to Oregon. She signed with Clutch Sports. You know Rich Paul, wow, yeah, and yeah, it's a lot of them. Like, I think one's going to Washington, one's going to Montana State, nevada, going to montana state, nevada, weber state, I think it may end up at akron. Um, so, yeah, it was a really good group.
Speaker 1:It's talented group wow, if you, how many? How, if you had to think back, how many games have you coached your coach?
Speaker 2:great thing, good to guess oh, dude, oh, that's a lot, man, you know I need to sit down and and because you know I I coach through the years A lot of people sit up at the top and coach from there. I enjoy resetting myself. The 2024 group is done, I'll go back down to fifth grade and coach a group and then bring them all the way through to the top. Wow, I have a one-year-old right, so I'm going to be here for a long time. So, yeah, and I actually enjoy, you know, that process and you know, like my eighth-grade team right now in the fall, god, they've had run off a good 40 games, you know. And you know you'd say and I have two teams, so I have a seventh and eighth grade team Probably running off a good 40 games, and then the high school stuff. So it's a lot If you judge per year. Then EYBL kicks in. I think one team going a full year is probably close to 80 games. Damn, yeah, it's a lot. You think close to like 80 games.
Speaker 1:Damn, yeah, it's a lot. You think over 10 000 games yeah, probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and the, the cold I've been doing almost 20 years too, so, uh, the thing is so, uh, it's like, it's like a a six cents kind of kind of hat, like they have built up these things where I see things immediately, they, they click for me like immediately from a basketball perspective. Yeah, um, that kid's not rotating, sit right away. Oh, they're playing that, you know, like it just boom right there do you?
Speaker 1:they call that like sometimes flow state and where life slows down.
Speaker 1:Um I remember like it clicked for me in football when I was like you know, complex, complex play, when I got worried about a complex defense. But I remember like taking my drop and I remember seeing like it was like slow motion. I was like, oh, this is so easy, but it wasn't easy, yeah, but it finally clicked for me. Um, and I think I'm you know as relating to like fatherhood. I'm hoping that, like these stories we're hearing, you know you're going to be one of 250 dads I've interviewed, which is trips me out that.
Speaker 1:I still yeah it's crazy man and like all these moments of like, slowing down, like like we want these moments to like, click for us as parents, to be like man. It's not our journey, it's their journey and it's so hard to like, like we talked about earlier, earlier in the episode about. You know you've learned from so many families watching maybe things you like, things you don't like. Um, you know you've learned from so many families watching maybe things you like, things you don't like. You know, and you've seen some fantastic athletes do some fantastic things. You've probably seen some fantastic athletes do some not so good things.
Speaker 3:So Hello everybody. My name is Craig Coe and I'm the Senior Vice President of Relationship Management for Beeline. For more than 20 years, we've been helping Fortune 1000 companies drive a competitive advantage with their external workforce. In fact, Beeline's history of first-to-market innovations has become today's industry standards. I get asked all the time what did Casey do for your organization? And I say this it's simple. The guy flat out gets it. Relationships matter. His down-to-earth presentation, his real world experience applied to every area of our business. In fact, his book win the relationship and not the deal has become required reading for all new members of the global relationship management team. If you'd like to know more about me or about beeline, please reach out to me on linkedin. And if you don't know Casey Jaycox, go to CaseyJaycoxcom and learn more about how he can help your organization. Now let's get back to today's episode.
Speaker 1:If you think about like game of basketball, coaching and then fatherhood, tell me what would be some parallels or some lessons you've learned through coaching that you will apply as a dad. That maybe it might speak to dads at home man, you know a lot of those.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of things that kind of go like hand in hand. You know, uh, like, like respect, and we talked about like. You know how I grew up as far as like talking to people the right way, right, especially the people that are in charge of your elders. Or you know, like I don't allow it on the court. It's just not a thing, right, like and so. But also, too, you know I'm teaching my kids at home Like no, we don't do that. There's respect for your mother, there's respect for your dad. You know there's respect for your grandparents. You know they go right. You know being accountable for your actions. It's huge with me on the court, same at home.
Speaker 1:Do you remember Kenny Lofton baseball player? Yes, I got connected to him through a gentleman by the name of Dale Favors, who is one of the most fantastic humans I've been venturing into my life, and I met him during the heart of in the 2020, the heart of COVID, the heart of Black Lives Matter, social unrest, and he taught me more about diversity. He taught me more about because I played with Samoans, brothers, asians, I mean, I played with Hawaiians. It was just football, I wasn't thinking about anything and he, he really helped me as a middle-aged white dude, slow down, to really get curious with like, uh, race relations and like the word privilege and like I learned more about that. And so he's, he's like my diversity mentor. Love the guy. I played golf that met him and actually I interviewed him during 2020.
Speaker 1:What is it like to be a father of color right now? During social unrest and we did it live I invited my friends, my family, my wife watching my kids, watching all my buddies, former coaches, and I was like, if I'm going to try to like, help, do anything to help put a dent, I'll never, probably, will never, solve racism. Anything to help, um, put a dent, I'll never, probably, will never solve racism, but if I can put a dent in it and chip away and help some people just open up some minds about, like what, what it means. Uh, they all did that and so, anyway, so I'd love giving him love because he's just freaking fantastic human being and he anyway. So he introduced me to, uh kenny.
Speaker 1:He texted me one day. He's like, hey, do you know kenny lofton? I'm like, yeah, I know kenny lofton, freaking amazing baseball player for the indians. He's like you want to talk to him? I'm like, are you shitting me? Wow, yeah, so I interviewed him. Um, his episode came out a couple weeks ago and uh, his story he was, um, his, his dad kind of up, tough upbringing, but he was raised by his grandma too and his grandma was blind. So it was like and he's crazy.
Speaker 1:Kenny is like super like. He described himself as like neat, the neat freak, like everything has to be in order. And his grandma, even though she was blind, she knew like all the soups, all the cans, all the sugar was all in line. Because she had to have the way, because that's she was blind. She had to go off memory. But anyway, I just I don't know why I shared that story with you, but it was like it. Yeah, kenny's a great dude. It was such a fun interview.
Speaker 2:Oh, you should tell ross that yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, is ross kenny guy. Yeah, oh yeah, I mean just sports of that era. Okay, like ross, ross is huge in the sports, not just basketball man, like he's a sports nut. Yeah, I'll text him that one.
Speaker 1:um, okay, if you, as we get ready to wrap up here, um, if you were to uh summarize kind of everything we've talked about from, from, uh, you know, from hoop to respect relationships to resent, you know, growing up tough, all these things like, how would you summarize? You know, send me some themes from our podcast that dads could take, you know, for them to try to figure out, figure out better ways, maybe to kind of look themselves in the mirror and say, man, here are some couple of things I can do a better job to try to be a better leader in my home, better version of myself, better dad, better way to support my kids, maybe what would be a couple of themes that came out of our conversation that you might just like share with, share with the audience.
Speaker 2:You know, um, just kind of, you know, relating to myself, you know, uh, I, you know, take a step back and I'm just like it's not about me, it's about them, right, and you know, raising them the right way. You know um, and way you know um, and you know, not worrying so much about, like, how you know I feel about things, but how do they feel, you know, about things. You know, um, just because I got things a certain way doesn't mean they're gonna get them a certain way or they're gonna like to do things that way, you know, so it, so it's, it's teaching them, you know. But it goes to also like with you know, you talked a little bit earlier, you know, about like, having a voice, you know, and and allowing them to kind of, you know, have a little bit of a you know a voice too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's hard man, it's. I'd say, one of the things I do in like my, my world isn't in work, where which is kind of I'm on this journey is like I do like consulting and coaching for executives and business leaders, and I never thought in the world I'd be doing it, but it's like I. People sometimes say they're calling, like this is my calling, it is so fun, I look, I look forward to helping people every day. And you it's kind of like with you at basketball, you're not making this stuff up, you're, you're, you're coaching, you're asking questions, but you're doing it from a spot of experience. Yeah, and that's the same thing I'm doing.
Speaker 1:So one of the things I've learned at the ripe old age of 48 that is a superpower that anybody can use in life is curiosity. Uh, curiosity solves so many problems, and so I there's a framework I got taught it's called ted based questions, so it's tell me, explain or describe, and so like when I, when my kids, come home, I practice on them, and when you made me think about that, when you said it's not about us, it's, you got to give them a voice. Well, sometimes we got to ask good questions as parents. So instead of saying hey, hey, hey, rye, how was your, how's your day? Good? What'd you do nothing? Did you have fun? Yep, I mean, those are shitty questions, but if, if we say hey, tell me two things that made practice fun today.
Speaker 1:Tell me. Tell me the thing that you're most proud of and tell me the thing that you want to work on to get better next time. And then, whenever they say we say, man, tell me more about that. And I've yet to have somebody say, no, I don't want to tell you more about that, I'm done talking about me. They keep it's crazy and it's like I wish I could go back in my 20s and relearn that curiosity framework, because it's just. It opens up so many doors. It allows us to be better listeners and I think that is dads. When we can listen to our kids, like get down on their level and listen, versus just talking um yeah what so, yeah, you know, uh, kind of you know going in here with that.
Speaker 2:So my wife you know I never did something like this growing up as a know kind of you know going in here with that. So my wife, you know, I never did something like this growing up as a kid we kind of just, you know, we sat at the table, we ate a little bit. We're like you know, you need to be quiet, eat your food right, like don't be going to finish that plate, right. So my wife and she did this with her family and we started doing it as a family. And we started doing it as a family and you know when we would. You know, when we sit down and eat, right, there's always a conversation about positives and negatives of the day. You know, what was the best thing that happened to you today? Love it. What was the negative thing that happened? You know we go all around the table.
Speaker 1:What do you learn about that when you're fine, when you're doing that exercise?
Speaker 2:You know just how their day went. You know how their day went. You know, um things that they like, things that they don't like. You know, um, what kind of issues are they having at that time? You know, um, and it's gotten to a point too where you know, uh, my kids bring it up, they want to do it, they want to share, you know, and I think that's that's big too, you know like. You know having your kids, you know, be open and talk to you. You know, like letting them, like letting you know how they feel. You know that's awesome.
Speaker 1:I mean just creating community, like there's so many of these life skills that are going to transparent, because every, every sport ends eventually. So these skills that we're teaching, um, whether it's on the court, on the theater and the band, wherever, whatever dads are doing at home, um, these are skills that they're going to have to prepare them, um, prepare them for life, um, all right. The last, the last question I have before I go into some fun stuff, is I always like to ask dad, like, what's an area your dad game that might speak to dads at home? That might not be where you want it, um, that is an area that meant is something you know you, maybe, god, I should. I need to get better at this and maybe I'll lead my witness.
Speaker 1:For me, as just a competitive guy, it's patience. I've, and I think, talking to so many dads, it slowed me down to be patient when I'm fine, because my dad rest in peace. When he was he could drop the best goddammit's at me and you know, when I was a kid made us laugh and he would be intense. But, like, sometimes I'm like, damn, just chill out. And sometimes I find that comes out in me. I'm like, ooh, I don't want to be that dude and so I'll stop and I kind of slow myself down. But maybe for you, what's an area of your dad game that you're you're continuing to work on to become a better version of yourself?
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, like, actually it's patience too. You know, kind of like in that same realm. But you know, cause of like, what I do with basketball and I'm, you know it's patience, like it's time, that's huge for me, because you know you don't get this time back and you're all I'm always gone. So when I am there, making that time for my kids so cool, yeah, and learning how to manage that and if I'm tired I need to rest, but God, you've been gone all weekend, man, no, you got to get up and spend time with your kids, you got to be involved and that's something I've strived to be better at over the last, I'd say, three years. Yeah, time.
Speaker 2:And people would tell me when Jaden was being born that, oh, it's going to go so fast. I mean, I've probably heard it a million times. Yeah, you know, and now that he's five and I look back at it, it does, it zips through, it's a trip, you know, yeah, so just time, spending that time is something that you know me, you know getting better at. You know, and you know you'll start to see my kids in the gym now. Sometimes I just start bringing them, man, I just they got to go with me, man Like so, and people probably think it's just because of basketball. But it's no, it's just because you know I want to be around my children, so that's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've had many episodes. Many dads talk about that being present. You know it's like getting off your phone at dinner table. Getting off your phone, you're on the couch like, um yeah, doing what they want to do, find things they want to go, spend time and we're all tired. But to your point about like that, all these cliches are true for a reason. When I think about time goes by so fast. I remember right so my son rider. He's eight, he'll be 18 in april going away to college. He's gonna play golf, a small school in oregon called southern o, and I remember him being in the baby Bjorn, that little thing that goes in your chest, and I'm like oh yeah, we're six, seven, eight weeks old and my neighbor said man, enjoy, this is going to go by so fast.
Speaker 1:I remember thinking to myself man, lady, what I'm just going to catch, enjoy this moment. That that was yesterday. That was yesterday, it didn't I'm. How in the hell did that happen so fast? And I'm almost 50. Like what the hell? That sounds weird to say out loud, but it's true. It's true. Um, okay, if people want to learn more about you, they want to learn more about, um, you know things that, like they can learn more about basketball, they want to learn more about whatever you do, whatever like is there? Is there a way that people can can follow you to learn more, um, um, you know, is there any links I can send to say, hey, this is, this is something you can, you want to?
Speaker 2:check out. Yeah, uh. So I have uh, northwest skills lab, uh, dot com. You know we have a lot of stuff on there for there's bio, um, there's a lot of stuff for, obviously, team and you know there's coaching and stuff, um, and then, uh, my Instagram, okay, um, the notorious Mo, uh, you know people can go out. I post regularly, kind of you know, uh, kind of you know uh people can go in there and check it out, um, but yeah, I think those you know things are probably the two like biggest um, those will be linked in the show notes.
Speaker 1:We'll make sure that's all linked there. Um, all right. Last part is now we go into what's called the lightning round, meaning I I ask you questions I have not thought of. These are just gonna be. This is gonna show you that the negative hits of playing college football were taking too many hits not bong hits, but football hits, and your job, your job is to answer them as quickly as you can. My job is try to get you to laugh, okay.
Speaker 2:Are you ready? Oh yeah, man, I see these all the time. Yeah, I'm ready, hopefully I'm ready.
Speaker 1:Okay, ready. Hopefully I'm ready.
Speaker 2:Okay, uh, true or false your favorite basketball player was sam perkins false, false, okay, uh smooth, big he could shoot it he could. It's funky, but it went in, you know it's like a soccer throwing.
Speaker 1:Uh. If uh favorite basketball movie, uh, above the rim, okay, uh, if you were to go on vacation right now with your wife no kids, where are we going? Cancun okay. If I was to come to your house for dinner tonight and you were in charge of cooking, what are we eating? Oh, steak.
Speaker 2:I think we'd try for it.
Speaker 1:Okay, if I was to go into your phone and, let's say, the high school girls that you were able to coach, they were like wow, mo, you listen to that song. What song would surprise them? What type of music or what song would they be surprised? You listen to Taylor Swift, swift, here we go. Okay, if there was to be a book written about your life. Tell me the title out the mud off the mud, out the mud out the mud.
Speaker 2:Okay, out of the mud, yeah, out of the bottom to the top.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay now, uh, out of the mud is crushing it in every airport. Everybody wants to read it, and now hollywood's found out about it, and so now we're going to make a movie. You are now the casting director. I need to. Now we're going to make a movie. You are now the casting director. I need to know who's going to star you in this.
Speaker 2:Critically acclaimed hit new movie out of the mud. Oh God, ooh, that's a good question. Oh God, who would I? Who would I? Michael B Jordan, there you go.
Speaker 1:I like it. I like it, okay, and then last question Tell me two words that would describe your wife.
Speaker 2:Loving. Can I give you three Sure Loving, caring, fiery.
Speaker 1:There we go, lightning rounds over. We both giggle man. This has been a blast. It's been so much fun learning about you. Thank you for doing what you're doing for the community. Thanks for being a great leader for so many young athletes. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with so many young athletes. We'll make sure all these links are in the show notes. Thanks to all the dads listening at home. We're on this journey together. Just because I'm the host Doesn't mean I have it all figured out. I got more gaps than probably all y'all and I'm working hard to try and find ways to be a better version of myself each and every day. And I'm grateful to interview so many you great dads and a few moms out there to kind of continue to look, look, look ourselves in the mirror and find ways to get better. But both been a blast. Thank you, man.
Speaker 2:So much for your time. Oh yeah, man, thanks case. Yeah, this is awesome, cool, yeah, yep, awesome.