SPEAKER_01 0:00

Coach Marcus Willis Sr. is currently the head girls basketball coach and girls coordinator at Waco, La Vega. Coach Willis has been at La Vega for six years, with that being his only stop as a head coach. During that time, he has had more success than some coaches have their entire career. He and his teams have been to San Antonio four years in a row. They went back to back in 2023 and 2024 as state champions, and they have followed it up with state runner-up appearances in 2025 and this past season in 2026. Although Coach Willis has only been a head coach for six years, he has already compiled 190 wins, meaning his teams average over 31 wins a season. Coach Willis graduated high school from Chilton, right outside of Waco. From there, he played football at Cisco Junior College before graduating from Lamar University. He and his wife have five children and one granddaughter. All four of his children that have graduated high school played or are currently playing a collegiate sport. Coach Willis, I appreciate you being on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Thanks, Coach. I appreciate you, Todd. Thanks for having me, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

This is fun. I'm glad we could finally connect. So something I ask every coach, kind of start out every coach, every episode. I ask them about their favorite gym. So other than the Alamo Dome, because obviously there's some special memories in the Alamo Dome, but other than there, what are some of your favorite gyms that you've coached in?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Um, you know, we've had a lot of opportunities to coach in a lot of good gyms. Off the top of my head, I can say Sandra Meadows, of course, in Duncanville. Um, definitely one of my favorites. Um in Allen, uh, we do the Allen Hoop Fest a lot. Uh definitely one of my favorites. Um and um I think those are probably the top two um that I could think about off the top of my head. Um my no Academy. Little River Academy. Um we actually, I think it's brand new, about two years old, maybe three. Uh I think last year they just started out to rent the facilities out to host games, and we were one of the first ones to have a playoff game there. So if you uh definitely want to play in a good environment, uh definitely Little River Academy, uh Academy, Texas.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah. All right. Um so kind of talk about your inspiration behind becoming a basketball coach. Who or what was was the reason behind that?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

To be honest with you, so um, I don't know, I'm pretty sure you're probably familiar with uh Juicy Landrum, uh Calvion Landrum, of course, one of the legends that come through La Vega um and now still playing professional ball, which is uh one of the great family, family close connections that we still have. Um it was a little team called Heartbreakers. She was a part of this team, and uh one of my guys now I have the luxury of having his baby girl in junior high at La Vega, uh Jeremy Hicks, uh, we nickname him, and he was his he was he was called Pig. And he coached this team. And uh, coach, when I was telling you, man, these were fourth, fifth, sixth graders, and they were beating up on high school kids at the time when I was watching them play. And uh they just played so different. And so I watched them, I was like, man, like these kids can't really go. And and coach was getting after them, coaching them hard. And so he was one of kind of like the first person that I idolized as far as far as coaching-wise. And then of course, you know, during my injury and I, you know, and me stop being able to play uh in the collegiate world, I guess the next thing for me was to stay connected to the game was to coach. So, you know, I can say Jeremy Hicks and of course is me being connected to the sports world my whole entire life, just kind of idled me to go in and start coaching at the at this level.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, absolutely. Just kind of a love for the game. Yeah. Um, so you get to coach kids for four years max. You know, you you maybe if you mix in some junior high levels and maybe, you know, elementary with camps and things like that, but four years you really have your high school program. So what are some things when players leave your program, what are some things that you hope they take with them?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

One, uh, we hope they take the culture, which is a lot of things that we embed on. And it's really not a lot about basketball. Like trying to figure out how we can make you a better person off the court. Um, you know, are you a great, you know, just a great person in the classroom? Are you one of those ones that the teachers can analyze and saying, hey, this is a great kid that's gonna be able to get outside these four walls and be something. So we hope that you're taking that from that, uh, from us, and then just uh being able to not just to play with freedom, love, and joy, but to live your life that way as well, too. So we always talk about playing with freedom, love, and joy. We try to tell our kids that a lot, but also living your life, but also with freedom, love, and joy as well, too. So just the biggest culture and about relationships. We're big in family. So hope we keep that, you know, keep that, hope they keep that going outside of our four years.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, awesome. I love that. Freedom, love, and joy. That's that's good stuff. Talk about, you know, where did that come from? How did you, how did you come about with with those kind of three words to to say in your culture?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Actually, one of my one of my mentors, you know, always talked to me about um about coaching and playing with freedom, love, and joy. So I kind of took that from him and instilled that, you know, of course, great coaches take from other great coaches. Uh so isn't one, this is something that I actually personally didn't create. I just kind of actually instilled it into myself from being instilled into me uh from one of my mentors. And so when he when when he was talking about freedom, love, and joy, you try to get these kids because basketball has changed and evolving big time now. And so if you're not playing with freedom, you're not playing with love, you're not playing with joy, why are you doing it? And so some of the things that we try to tell our kids every day, it's just about constantly playing with the freedom, constantly playing with the love and the joy, you know, of the game.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

I love that. That's really good. Um, I might have to steal that. Coaches steal it from coaches, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Please do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Um All right, so you've experienced a tremendous amount of success in a relatively short period of time. And some so from the outside looking in, you know, people see that success. They see the wins, they see the championships, they see the trips to San Antonio, all the positive moments, and they assume everything is great, you know, but every coach knows that there's challenges that come with success, and even challenges that don't come with success. Um, so what has been one of the toughest experiences or challenges that you've had to navigate?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Um, stay consistent every year like that. You know, that I think that's the biggest challenge on how you are able to continue to do it, you know, because you you kind of hit it, you know, you hit the nail right on the head as far as it's like, you know, everybody sees the outside of the success. But this thing is hard to do every year. Um, especially I think as the years go where you have different talent in different teams. Like this year it was by far like, you know, I'm not saying that we were the most talented team, um, but they were one of the most togetherness teams that I've had that played together, uh, once again, played with their freedom, love, and joy. They really, really just zoned into that and they was they soaked it up like a sponge. Um, so I think just the the challenges of that, you know, different eras, different teams. Uh this year's gonna be a bigger challenge. We lose a lot. We lose four years, we lose four kids. Um, shoot, that can average, what, 60 points a night, you know, um at any given night. Um, and so that's gonna be a struggle as well, too. So I think that's the just, you know, that's what it all entails. Um, a different, different view of a different team every year. Um, how can you continue to stay consistent? How can you continue to rise above, even though the most challenges of um maybe not having so much support uh because people get spoiled a little bit. You know, we went a little bit more, so now you don't have as much support. And don't get me wrong, we have, we do have support, but you know, sometimes sometimes people get spoiled a little bit and uh they expect certain things. And so I think that's a little bit of some pressure as well, too, um, as far as continuing to try to do it, you know, year in, year out like we've like we've done.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and for you guys, for sure, there's there's a pressure to stay consistent because of that success that you've had. You know, you've been to San Antonio four years in a row. That at some point that becomes the expectation, like, oh, well, I guess we'll go ahead and book our hotels for San Antonio and and be ready to go. Um, but it's a lot harder than than people realize.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

No, no, no. And it isn't expectation at La Vega. I'm not gonna lie to you and say that it's not. Every year, you know, that's expectation. Um, and we're gonna continue to strive for that opportunity to play in San Antonio every year. Um, but it gets harder and harder every year too. Um I can't lie to you. And I think those are the challenges that that that people don't see. You know, the the day in, day out in that gym, in that process, you know, it takes, you know, it's not, it's not, and and what do you do after us too? You know, what do you do after our hour and a half, two hour practice or whatever that we allow? We are, we we we give a whip, we get eight years, eight, eight hours a week, you know, so we don't get a long, a long time to work with our kids. So, you know, doing things outside of us and constantly, you know, forcing that and driving that and staying connected with the outside, you know what I mean, to stay inside as well too. I that does that does play a big part of it too.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah, absolutely. What kids do outside of outside of team time and outside of outside of school time. How bad do you want to get better? How bad what are you gonna do to get better? Um, all right. So coaches everywhere are constantly searching kind of for that extra edge, you know, that that small thing that can take a good team to a great team. Um so given the success that you've had, it's clear that something y'all are doing is working. Um so what are some of the little details that you and your staff emphasize on a daily basis that you think makes the biggest difference, that gives your team that extra edge?

SPEAKER_00 9:25

I just think we have non-negotiables as far as accountability piece. Um, you know, we always talk about, you know, just, you know, uh good days, great days, bad days. You know, that's gonna be con that's gonna happen. You know, you try your best to limit the bad days that you have. So I just it goes back to consistency as well, coach. Um, and it's a non-negotiable, just not allowing certain things in practice to go on, you know, but also the accountability piece, you know, and allowing our kids to hold our own kids accountable. Um, I think that's the biggest thing is identifying leaders up front. And um I always talk about good teams are coach-led, player, great teams are player-led. So forcing those leaders to drive the driving force for the team, I think you identify those things early, um, and you just pick out your non-negotiables early. Like you can have a bad day on offense any day, you just can't have a bad day defensively. So in our defensive mind at workouts, we just can't have a bad day. You know, offensively, we can we can we're gonna miss a few shots. That's gonna happen. You know, but the effort, the energy, hashtag E H H, energy, effort, heart, and hustle. So these are non-negotiables. So you got to bring that every day. If you bring that every day, we can take care of the things that don't go so well.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

I like that. That's good. So kind of talk about your accountability program. If if if it's a great team is player, you know, they hold each other accountable. Do you have some type of system in place where, you know, you have a team captain or you have a a team meeting or things like that that are player-led?

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah, we have all that. So, of course, that's always before, during, and even after the season, uh, you're gonna have team bondings, you're gonna have team meetings, you're gonna have film sessions, you're gonna have meetings. Um, and those are gonna be player-led as well too. You know, we'll start the thing out, of course, just getting out of expectations, accountability pieces once we identify our leaders, and okay, they'll have their own separate meetings as well too. And then we'll have our meetings as well, too. So, yeah, it is a system, of course, that you kind of utilize. And it starts in the summer, though, coach. Uh, it just doesn't start in the fall or in the offseason and actually starts in the summer. We're trying to identify in which we already kind of know. You know, we're identifying those leaders right now. So, you know, in summer workouts, you know, are you gonna hold your teammate to be accountable? Because it's not mandated. You know, it's not mandated for you to be here, but of course, it's it's definitely recommended. You know, so are you gonna hold yourself accountable every day to get here? And so far we've been doing a good job of that. Um, and I can appreciate the fact of, you know, them holding each other accountable to get here every day now.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

All right, so AAU basketball, okay? I I want to kind of focus on that a little bit because I know you're you're big into it. AAU basketball, it's a polarizing topic among high school coaches. Some worry about it, you know, the burnout, the injuries, um, you know, balancing between their AAU coaching voice and their high school coaching voice. Um, but then others have it as a tremendous, you know, exposure. Um, kids get more exposure. They get more, like you said, they're they're playing. I'm glad they're playing outside of you know school. Um, so they're getting better, they're developing their skills. So you're actually a coach of a 17U team, um, IFN Under Armour. Did I get that correct?

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Yeah, and it's correct.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Okay. Um that's right outside of Dallas. And so you've seen this topic um kind of from a unique perspective as being a high school coach at a school and also being an AAU coach. So talk about what are your thoughts on AAU basketball and how do you believe it benefits today's athletes?

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Well, I mean, I de I definitely think it benefits for you if you're doing it for the right reasons. Um of course, you know, everybody um it's gonna be some loose and holes, it's gonna be some politics in everything you do. Um, so I'm big on AAU. I actually started, you know, before I got a chance to coach high school basketball, I came from the grassroots area. Um how I got my job, I was being watched, you know, coaching summer basketball. Um, and I was identified because I was already working at La Vega. I worked two years at La Vega um prior to me coaching. So, you know, I was in behavior, I was in Troncy, then of course an opportunity to take the opportunity to coach, of course, came and we we definitely took advantage of that. So coached there for six years. But yes, uh, I came from AAU coach. So um it has made me who I am, you know what I mean? And so I guess one of the things that we talked about as far as earlier, as far as being, you know, what what got you into it, of course, AAU played a big part, a a big part into my success as well. Um I think people get a big misunderstanding of it. Um sometimes you have to have both. Um now in these times, I mean, the game has changed so much. I mean, I just believe if you're playing AAU, it has to be a reason on why you're playing. You know, um you you have aspirations to get to some type of level. Um, and then you pick and choose on what direction or you where do you want to go. You know, like we're on the unarmored circuit right now, so I have high-level kids that are playing, you know, extremely high level. It's tier one. Everybody is not a tier one kid. Um, so I think the understanding of where your kid is, understanding where like who's really for development, who's really for the betterment of the kids, you know, you have some great programs out there in AAU, but a lot of it is saturated too. I can't lie to you, you have a lot of programs out there. So I just one, you just do have to navigate the right channels uh to go to the right area, but I'm for it, always have been. I think you need both to be successful. I think high school coaches have to do a better job of building relationships with AAU coaches and vice versa. I think AAU coaches has to do a better job of, you know, bridging the gap. And I think we have as far as connecting and understanding what the high school coaches need. I think if we do that, then of course the player always stays and remains first in the priority. Yeah, so so we can talk more about that too. I just kind of wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, let's let's do. How you know, let's talk more about that. How how can what can high school coaches do better? What can AU coaches do better to merge that relationship a little bit more effectively for the kids?

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Why don't I just I want to just be in open? I I just I just think in any world we live in, man, it's always some egotistic issues, you know, I think we gotta do a better job of just kind of putting the pride to the side and understanding the real true reason it's not about us. You know, like like I tell these kids, you know, even in my high school, even in AAU, our job is to impact lives. Like, I'm not looking for a paycheck, I'm not looking. I tell my girls that I coach AAU, when you get your NILs, when you get your whatever, whatever you're getting, I don't want none of that. All I want is a t-shirt and a ticket to go watch you play. That's it. Like, like allow me to go be a part of your wedding 10 to 15 years from now. And it's not just my AAU kids, it's in my high school kids as well, too. That's why it was bigger, it's bigger than basketball. And I think us as AAU and high school coaches have to understand if your kid is playing high-level AAU ball, that means she wants to get somewhere. That means she wants to go to the next level, whether it's collegiate, whether it's professional. So, what do we do to help navigate this process to make it easier? We're not going to make it difficult for the kids. So I don't want to fight and funnel over the kid. You know, I think we need to understand schedules, understand some of workouts, understand training, understand working throughout the AAU season, working throughout our season. I just think if we just be an open book of understanding, I think one, that'll help bridge a big gap itself. And then just drop the ego issues. Just keep it about the kid. If you can do those couple things, I think we can help the kid and we can help us. And then now, if if I got five or six, seven, eight, nine, ten AAU kids playing every summer and they're playing the right way, they're in the right programs, we have an open connection. If if AAU coaches need to use gyms, anything of that nature, and we can have that connection, then now they're coming back to our program and they're being just as good for our program as well, too. So it works both ways. And now I got college coaches funded into my high school program as well as they're funded into their AAU program. And so everybody wins. So I just think if you just put the pride to the side and put the kid first, I think we can bridge the gap immediately like that coach.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Yeah, that's good stuff. So you you talked about, you know, if they're playing for the right reasons, if they're playing the right way. How do how do coaches, players, parents, even, how do they know, you know, if it's a quality AAU program or not? Because like if you live in a school district, that's the school you go to, and that's just well, that's just what you got. But you can kind of pick and choose your AAU program. So how did how do you see, you know, this is a good program and they're doing it for the right reasons?

SPEAKER_00 17:47

One, like, so because I've been in it before, um, all my kids have played AAU. They've just been blessed. I've coached most of their years. But of course, I had my other kids, of course, did go in brand shopping and play in other areas. So one, I'm looking at, well, I'm looking at the program in itself. You know, one, how successful has the program been? Of course, you do want to see what's the resume of the of the program. And then you look at the leaders, you know, the administration, the directors, the head coaches. You know, what are they truly about? You know, uh what does their resume look like? Or are they have they had some success in the past? And then how is it truly built in? Are they really zoning in on development? You know, are they playing nothing but high-level smoke competition? You know what I mean? What are they playing? And I think if you can zone in onto a couple of those things, you can identify, you know, is this the right program for you? You know, am I am I truly, you know, a factor in your program or am I a number? I think if you can identify that, then you can identify this is the program for you. And every program is not for everybody. So, and it may take two or three opportunities to go and check to see if it's the right fit. And so I just I I just really encourage people to keep climbing and keep finding the right fit. Development still matters in in the summer. And so definitely find some a program that's still still zoning in into your development.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

All right, so you you hit on your kids a little bit there. You have five kids, um, and I can tell you you're an incredibly proud dad. Um, and I I just had I have a four-month-old daughter, and she's my first one. And so I can I can feed off of that energy of being a proud dad, right? Um, and so all but your youngest, because your youngest can't yet, um, have either played or are currently playing a collegiate sport. So just talk about as a dad, how how rewarding was it to watch you know a lot of their hard work, their dedication, and some of the sacrifices they made pay off.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Man, first and foremost, congrats to you. Thank you very much. Baby girl. Thank you. And uh I'm gonna tell you right now, if you're if you're blessed, keep one girl. Yeah, I'm gonna do my best. If you're blessed, keep one girl. Yeah. Uh but man, yeah, I got four boys, one one and one daughter. Um, and it has been a blessing to see, you know, their journey. You know, speaking from my oldest, Marcus Jr., uh, he's the one that got us the grandbaby now. Um, so he plays some um, he actually was blessed to play a little bit of both. He played some NINIA football and basketball, then he ended up playing some Chuco basketball. Um, and then um my daughter, of course, she played two years of Tartan State basketball-wise, and she just she hit the portal this year, and now she's at Sam Houston. Um, and then um my other middle boy, uh well, two middle boys is at Harden. One of them is at Harden Simmons playing football uh in West Texas. And then uh our other middle boy is about to go to Hampton, Virginia and play football out there at Hampton University. Um, so we've been through it all, football-wise, basketball-wise, uh every level wise, uh, Division I, D three, JUCO, NAIA. Um, and every journey was different. Um What I have seen and what I'm gonna brag on is the kids, how they work hard. Um their work ethic is is really unmatched. Um, how they pick and choose how they work on their own. It's not me anymore. Um it used to be back in the day, as far as we were, you know, getting them going. But that even stopped early though, coach. That's when I knew that these kids were gonna be special because it wasn't me begging them to get and work out. You know, you know, they picked, they chose and say, hey, let's go. Let's get it. So uh even in, I remember when we were in COVID, the shutdown. And um before the shutdown, coach, we upped on some uh some weights and um some ladders and you know, bad everything, basketballs. I mean, we're just out there every day putting in the work, putting in the work, putting in the work. So even the the the moment of the shutdown, it just didn't stop these kids from, you know, identifying already, knowing what they wanted to do. And so um it's been a process. It's been a long process in every last one of their journeys. Uh, but we've loved it, you know, we've embraced it, you know, we we took every challenge head on. Um, and they hold themselves big in uh accountability as well. Uh Daughter went through some crazy stuff too. Um she actually tore ACL, um, her sophomore year, um, going or sophomore summer, actually at a camp, uh going into her junior year. And uh so it was amazing. Major setback, you know, of course, for a split second. But, you know, for her to be able to say that and still play Division I basketball going into her third year just was a simple blessing. So, nah, man, we've been through it all, man. But I'm gonna tell you right now, if I if I could uh do it all over again, nah, I I mean I would I would pick the same role with every last one of them. Um I think every year we grew s we grew about it. You know, now it's even more crazy because with the NIL package, ribshare packages, so you really gotta be smart there and wise and making sure that the kids are making good decisions, not just financial decisions. Um but nah man, it's been a it's been an uphill journey. Um it's been a battle in a lot of them, but it's it's been every every every moment has been enjoyable though. Can't lie to you.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

You know, you you hit on the NIL, the transfer portal, and I want to talk about the recruiting process as well. Um, because I've had coaches talk about the recruiting process, but I haven't had a parent talk about it. Okay. So what advice would you give other parents who are kind of going through that process of whether it's the transfer portal or the recruiting process of a high school kid?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Um, one, hop on it early. Um you never can, you know, uh you don't ever you don't ever want to be late to a party. Um so your emails, your your DMs, your your camps, you know, hop on that early. Um trust your process. You know, never look at anybody else's journey. Um, because then once you do that, I think you start losing focus on really what's important and what's on task. Um so focus on your journey. Um, embrace every moment um and uh keep an open mind of of everything. Don't feel rushed. You know, uh coaches are going to rush you. You know, they have timelines. Um don't feel rushed. Um make sure you make, don't make impulse decisions, you know. Um really, really zone in and really dissect and really think about it. Uh keep God first, please. Continue to pray about every decision that you make, of course. Um, I think if you do that, you'll be fine. Um and let your kid, you know, really make those decisions. We can guide them, you know, and you know, my city, my like Quaysman can go 20 hours away from us. And am I okay with that as a dad? No, probably not. You know, but uh we had several conversations about that before he made the decision, you know, and and and he was okay with that decision. And once he made himself okay, then we were okay with it. And so, you know, allow your kids to make those decisions, just help guide them through it. So don't be don't be a decision maker for them. You don't want to do that because if they regret anything, then they're gonna regret and resent you. And so, you know, you don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

So yeah, that's good. Um, all right. So this is kind of the the last question I ask every coach um about their their team behind the team, um, specifically their family, you know, even more so their their wife. Um and I I can already tell that your wife's a big help around the house with you. Um and so there's late nights, there's early mornings, there's Christmas tournaments, there's there's summer workouts, you gotta plan vacations around all that stuff. And so from the outside, people see the success and they see the wins and they see the fun pictures on social media with your family. But what they don't see is the sacrifice that that it takes to get there. So, how have you managed and how have um you and your wife managed to balance that that family aspect while still being successful?

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Well, um, I mean, one, I thank God for her because if she's not doing what she does, it is it my job is extremely hard and I'm not able to do what I'm doing. So um she makes it easy. Once she's a sports fanatic as well, too. So makes it a little bit easier for her to enjoy because she really does enjoy it. Um, but no, behind the scenes, man, like it's tough. She's she's she's like, honestly, she's on the sidelines with me. Um she actually keeps my stats as well, too. So she's kind of really on the staff if you look at it. So um, but no, um, she embraces it. She's at at the long night, she's watching Finn with me. You know, sometimes on those long talks at home, she's talking to me on the way home. And uh, but also she's she's also the um the caregiver, you know, when when you have all the negative, you know, because that comes with coaching. You know that coach. It comes with it. And so, you know, she's she's the backbone of the family. And so when we when we need someone to lean on, we're able to lean on her for sure, for sure. So like I said, it makes it easier for her to adapt it in it because like I said, it's been several nights. We're watching film, you know, and she's she's telling me what what what what KK should have done or what Samari should have done or what Reed should have done, you know. So, you know, she's talking basketball, she's talking guru. Uh, we've been in in in conversations where we're talking about our own kids and what they should have done as well, too. So I think it's e it's an easy adjustment and adaptation with us. You know what I mean? We've heavily adapted to it, but I think we've been doing it for so long. You know, we're high school sweethearts, coach. So we've been together almost 30 years. So it's like nothing is a surprise now. And so, um, but at the end of the day, like I think we just we still love each other more and more, you know, every year. So I think it makes it as easiest for us to do what we do. So everybody can't do that, but you know, you have to have your partner has to be able to love what you do as well, too. Um, because if they don't love what you do, then, you know, one, it's it's gonna be hard for you to enjoy it. You know what I mean? And then it's gonna be hard for y'all to enjoy together because he or she is never gonna be all the way happy. Um, so it's it uh it's not great moments, though. It's every time, you know what I mean? It's gonna be some hard moments. Um, but no, no, she she takes it well and she does a great job for us. So she's our backbone.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Me and my wife were high school sweethearts too. So wow. We can we can you know bond on that a little bit as well. That's that's good stuff. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, that's really all I have. Best of luck to you guys. I hope you get what you want when it when it comes to success, but also those those pillars that you that you want your kids to have when they leave the program. I hope they I hope they embrace that um as well from from the La Vega Pirates.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

So best of luck next year. God always blesses others and puts people in in places and situations. And Larby Holes, man, it's crazy how much we got in common. You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, once again, man, I appreciate you even considering me. And um, and thank you for having me. Real talk. So you need anything on my side, I'm here. And like I said, we'll definitely stay in touch and stay connected.