Welcome everybody to another episode of the ride home rants podcast. This is as always your host Mike bono. I have a great guest for us today, but first and foremost, the ride home ran podcast is brought to you by my own personal merch store. The stupid should hurt merch store. I have hats. T-shirts hoodies, coffee mugs.

You name it. I got it. The link for that will be in the description of this episode. Go there, check it out. If you use the promo code welcome, you will get 5% off of your entire first purchase. Again, that is the stupid should hurt merch store. That being said, my guest today is coming to us from Lowville Ohio.

He is the current, basketball coach there. Matt Olson joins the show. Matt. Thanks for joining. Hi, Mike, thanks for having me, always good to get a little recognition, especially being, you know, such a small school and district. So, appreciate having me on, Hey, not a problem at all. We, we had some people from the Lowville area on before.

We've actually had everyone from the Italian festival that's there.  on. So we, we love the Lowville area. Uh, Johnny and I, so, um, great to have you on. So you are the basketball coach at Lowville. So how long have you been coaching? Yeah. Um, well, I, this is my, this will be my seventh year as head coach. Um, so I've been coaching kind of off and on for a long time.

Um, coach a year in junior high level at brothers and Boardman a little bit, um, then came to Louisville, got into track a little bit, but basketball's always been my passion. So always wanted to get into basketball and. You know, I played at Lowville. I walked on for a year at YSU and played the year and then I got right into PO.

So, um, I love it. Yeah. So, um, you were also a basketball player yourself. Is that kind of, what wanted you to get into coaching? Have you always had that, like, I guess, dream to coach or, you know, what, what was the reason to steering into the coaching realm? Yeah. Um, I guess I've always loved the game of basketball.

Not necessarily so much on the coaching end.

I'm a teacher. So, um, you know, teaching coaching kind of goes hand in hand. So I have that passion. So I guess the love of basketball, plus I kind of love passion of teaching. Um, just made it a good fit and, um, you know, being able to coach at your hometown also, and kids, the quality of kids that we have here, um, it makes it makes it worthwhile.

Absolutely. I mean, I, I dabbled a little bit into coaching this past summer. Um, I was, uh, helping out at, you know, a summer league swim, uh, team. I was a swimmer all the way through college and, you know, I love the sport of swimming. Not a lot of people give it the recognition that I think it deserves. And it was very weird for me.

Being outside of the pool and issuing the workouts to, to the swimmers. Cause I had kids all the way from eight, all the way up to 18 years old for that summer league, we had about 96 kids total on, on the team. So it was a big team and you know it, but it was still that, that. Weird feeling of like, man, I remember doing these workouts myself and how much I hated them.

Now I see the benefits on the outside. Did you kind of have that kind of realization when you were playing or now, now coaching, did that kind of happen for you? Sure. Um, it does help obviously to have played the sport. Um, just cuz you know, like you said, um, you know what you're making the kids do. It's easy to say, get on the line and do 10,000 sprints, but what do you really, you know, what do you really accomplish in that?

Um,  but, um, yeah, you know, it's always easier looking from the outside in, um, you know, very well that it, it's not easy being a coach. You know, you, you're dealing with, you're trying to win, but at the same time you are trying to, um, keep the kids lessons. You're trying to keep everybody happy. You're trying to create that team environment.

Um, and especially in basketball, you know, swimming might be a little bit different just because. I, I don't, I can't comment too much on, so, cause I don't know the rules. , that's why I know you can only play five at a time. So it's a lot, it's a lot harder to make kids happy. Um, and to sell that, you know, team atmosphere.

So, um, and dealing with high school kids too, just like in the classroom, you can go over things many, many times, but until they're in that situation, you don't know how they're gonna respond. Absolutely. . Yeah, I, I know that firsthand. Cuz when, when we were coaching, you know, I was the one of the assistant coaches and they had me working with the high school kids just because of my swimming background and what they were looking to do.

And you you're right. You know, you're not gonna make everybody happy. I had one kid, every meet, he would come up. Why am I swimming these events? I wanna, I wanna work on what I'm gonna swim when I get to. Get to high school and get into, you know, the high school, the team sport, not the summer league. I was like, yes, but you also want to be a well rounded swimmer for what you're wanting to do.

So we're gonna work on the things that you're not good at here. Right. That way it can make you better. I know you wanna make districts and the a hundred breast stroke, but you.  a hundreds of a second away from that. We're I mean, we can knock that out in a week. We'll do that the last week right now at the beginning of the season, we're gonna work on your butterfly because it's bad.

You know what I mean? So you had that every, every week this kid was coming up to me, why am I swimming this? Why am I doing that? Why, why? I was like, dude, trust the process. I'm telling you, you will thank me later. And he did, you know, he thanked me at the end of the season, like, wow, me all of my times, Got better just from working on this one stroke because they had made everything else stronger around it.

I was like, yeah. See, I kind of did know what I was talking about when I was, I feel that cuz when I coach track, um, it's a lot easier for them to gauge their individual results. Right. You know, and how they're progressing and they can work on their own personal death. Um, but yeah, in a team sport, sometimes it's just tough.

You know, you get, get a kid that works harder than anybody on the team, but they just may not have that ability or.  four feet tall and it's just, you know, it's hard, it's hard. You want to give them those opportunities cuz they work hard. But at the same time you don't, you wanna hurt the other guys out there.

So there's that hard balance of winning keeping everybody happy. But um, but yeah, I enjoy coaching track. I'm sure swimming's just very similar. Just, um, like I said, just easier for those individual athletes to go towards their individual goals, so right. Um, but it's fun, but. It was a lot of fun. And, you know, I gotta ask, how do you balance that you are also the athletic director too, as well, correct?

At the junior high level, right? Is that is, or, or you were, I were, yeah, I was, I don't, I don't do that anymore just cuz um, I can't really  there's not a lot of time for it. Um, everything's becoming, as you said with the AAU stuff is just like year round. Yep. Um, and if.  and in our school, I can't have them year round or am I allowed to have them year round, but, um, you know, at Lowville these kids are playing multiple sports, you know, most of my team is, is on the football team.

Um, so, so it, it makes it challenging. Um, but yeah, it's, if you're not working most of the year, year around that hits get these teams and these fires. So focused on that one thing, it it's, maybe it's tough. It's tough. Absolutely. I got a nephew that plays AAU basketball. He plays year round. I mean, he, he's a heck of a, a basketball player at 13 years old already.

I mean, he's already almost close to the 10,000 bucket club in, you know, here in Zanesville, Ohio, you know, he's out there every time I, I, I go to their house, he's out front shooting hoops and. Hey, man, you know, it's football season, right? And we're, we're starting football season. You play football now. Like let's, let's focus on that a little bit and I don't even understand what you're, you don't need to work anymore on basketball, man.

You're you're good enough. So I get it with these AAU leagues and everything like that. So that, that it's tough to, to get it. But at the same sense as a coach, are you happy that your players are kind of trying to stay in basketball shape year round and you know, working on their game year round? Yeah, obviously I would rather have them.

Participating in, in something and doing something rather than sitting at home. Um, you know, you get the kids sometimes I just know from teaching and seeing 'em all the time, um, you know, they'll say I'm not gonna play football, cuz I wanna play basketball, but then they don't play. They don't practice basketball either.

They just go into their own, you know, own world for a little while. So I think it's a positive that they play multiple sports, especially football, um, you know, helping 'em up, get in the weight. Um, obviously we wanna keep them healthy. Um, we just had a kid, I think that hurt his collarbone. He's a basketball guy, but obviously still earlier in the, earlier in the season.

Um, but yeah, I have no promise doesn track to, you know, get them, get them running, work on their speed. Um, we have a team this year finally with some depth, which we don't have in a small school usually. Um, but, um, we wanna run, we wanna press, um, so track, cross country. That that helps, that that always helps develop those leg muscles.

So, yeah. I'm I'm I'm I'm for, yeah, I gotta ask you mentioned it. I am a, I'm originally from West Virginia, so I am a Mountaineer fan and the press Virginia dude. Did we model our team after that? A little bit with what? The press or  yeah, it's responsible. Um, if I thinking correctly, um, coach Huggins likes to run a 1 31.

Yep. Um,  we haven't, we didn't do that last year, but it's, we definitely couldn't do some of that this year. You need some height to be able to do that, which, which we do have last year, we had some smaller guys that this wasn't gonna work well, so. Yeah, it's possible. They'll be kind of like that style. Sure.

Okay. I'll say, and can we say, we're gonna go for Ville this year instead of Louisville  after that, I'm okay with that. We will make that happen for you coach you . I haven't in the seven years did my, like I said, my seventh year, I haven't been able to really do it just, but we have a, we have a good senior class, seven kids that, um, have gotten some.

We have a nice junior class underneath them and guys competing sometimes in a small school, you, you don't get that competition factor as much as we do in bigger schools. So, um, yeah, we wanna run this year. We wanna run, we wanna run things off the floor. We want to use the guys on the bench. Um, so yeah, that I'm down.

All right. All right. We'll, we'll make that happen. I have to write that down for, um,  that we have the quotes and stuff on our shirts.  love that. All right, man. I'm glad I can help out in any way  I can for sure. Uh, so a little bit here, cuz we're I know you're, you're a little bit pressed for time here too, as well, but um, you have a teaching background too as well.

Uh, so what got you into teaching? Was it mainly the coaching aspect or did you always want to become a. Yeah, I always enjoyed, um, learning and the education process, I guess. Um, my first half year I went to Youngtown state university. I just took kind of general classes, trying to figure it out. Um, had some family members that had taught, um, always had the coaching things kind of in the back of my mind, but that really wasn't, you know, a deciding factor.

Okay. Yeah, that passion is always there. I, I like being in the classroom. I like the patient. Um, it took a while. It's some, I don't know so much now, but when I graduated, um, we won't say when, cuz we don't wanna say how old I am, but I get it. I get it. Um, when I graduated, it was hard to find a job around here in Northeast Ohio.

Um, especially my, my certificate is one through. Now it's even concentrated more like six to eight with, it was, it was hard to find the job. Um, so I was going all over the place and I just happened to end up in my hometown and, um, love it now. I love it now, but I always kind of had the passion to teach, um, took me a half a year to kind of declare that major.

But once I was in, I, I knew I was in the right. Cool. Uh, yeah, I, I think, you know, when you said, you know, at your time at YSU and, you know, trying to the general studies your first year, semester, I think everyone goes through that. I, I, I did that. I end up, I guess for the first two years, you know, I was a, a business major before I realized, yeah, this is it for me and sports communication and journalism is where I want to be at.

And that's what I want to do. And then, you know, changing. Directions there, you know, at, at Bethany college and everything like that. So, you know, it, it, I, I get that, you know, the, the not knowing really the general studies and everything like that too, as well. But you walked on the basketball team there too as well.

What was that year like for you playing for YSU eye opening?  difficult. Um, all of the above, it's just, you know, I played at Lowville, um, and then go to, you know, a division one. School, like, Youngtown say just the decide and the speed is just obviously a whole nother level. Um, I don't know if I would be able to walk on the team today and make it, but at that time I kept me, I, I sent the, you know, was able to out the full season.

Um, didn't really travel with the team, went on a couple road trips with them, but, um, I'm glad I did it. You know, I learned a. , you know, being a coach now just from being at all those practices and see how they ran things and how organized and structured it was, um, and still stay in contact with some of those coaches and have, um, so it, it was, it was difficult.

It's um, it's definitely more of a job when you get to that level.  and I didn't live on campus. I was still living at home. So, you know, we would do double practices in the morning, your workouts at like 5:30 AM. That's two practices and then go again after class. So it was, it was tough. It was tough, but, um, eye opening and glad I did it actually proud of myself that I was able to sit through the whole year.

Cuz not, not many people could do that in my size.  yeah. I, I wasn't real, real, big and strong either, but um, I get shoes, shoes, and dribble. That was my thing. So they kept me on and I helped him out in practices. I get it, man. You know, it was, you know, me, I, I wanted either football or swimming. I played football and swam in high school and.

Probably should have just swam, but you know what I mean? Cause I didn't really have the size for football. I graduated high school at six, five, a hundred fifty five pounds. So you know, it wasn't the biggest kid in the world, but I had that swimmer's frame and oh yeah. You know, it, it. We won't say where I'm weighing at now, because it's, it's way more than that, but you know, it , we won't go into that, but like I said, I know you're pressed for time and I want to thank you for coming on, but I gotta get this segment in because if not, uh, Johnny will kill me, but it is the fast 55.

Oh yeah. I'm okay. So yeah, I got 10 minutes or so. No worries. No worries. Yep. Five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast. Johnny fitty Falcon. Oh, he here, right? He's not here, but he, he, he sent them to me. Uh, he has some things to do today. Uh, he was wanting to jump on for this one, but, uh, couldn't make it with his schedule, but it's all right.

But these questions, man, they have nothing to do with what we've been talking about for the entirety of the show, which makes us a fun segment kind of rapid fire, but you can elaborate if you need to. So if you are ready, man. We will get rolling here. Yeah. All right. Question number one, which is a better fruit, a plum or a pair.

Uh, I would've to go to pair some kind of, I don't know, the sour, uh, little too sour, I guess. I mean some sometimes. Okay. Okay. Question number, question. Number two. Do you own a phone book? I'm a little nervous. Like every everyone is, man. I, and I don't get these a lot of the time if he's not gonna be here until the day we record.

So I'm reading these for the first time too. So question number two. Do you own a phone book? Oh,

They used to, it's a logo community, which is crazy, cuz we're so small. They used to pass out these little community phone books. I still think I have that, but far as like the big yellow page thing, I don't think I have any, yeah  my wife is big into recycling. So that went right into the recycle bin. I'm sure.

sure. Question number three, which temperature is the perfect tempera. . Hmm. Um,

I'll say mid seventies, I guess. Okay. That would be my, my ideal temp. Yeah. Yeah. He, he's got some doozies. This, this, this, we went to Hawaii. It was like upper seventies, lower eighties every day. I'll take that every, I mean, if it's outside inside of little cooler, but oh, absolutely. Every day of. All right.

Question number four, which is your favorite season? Fall, winter, spring, or summer? Hmm. Oh, well, if we, um, have a good basketball team, they'll be winning  okay. Um, if we're not talking basketball, it would probably be spring. Okay. I just like the, you know, after the winter, the darkness, especially here in Ohio, get some sun back.

Yeah, absolutely. And last but not least question number five, which is the better number 49 or 16. Ooh, I dunno where that one came from. Um, 49 does nothing for me. So I'd have to say 16. That was.

I'm just thinking of a quarterback. I don't know why Mon Montana was Mon Montana was 19 or was he 16? I don't know, but I'd have to go with 16. I don't know why this just sounds better than me. Yeah, I don't, I don't know what, no, that's the first time he's had a question like that, like just picking like random, like that's, , that's a good one from Freddy that gotta be 16 year olds and 49 there.

How about that? Uh, yeah, I, I agree with that for sure. Uh, all right. So like I said, we're running down near the end of the episode. I give every guest this opportunity here, Matt. So I'm gonna give you about a minute. The floor. Is yours, anything you wanna promote? Whether it's the team, anything else you got going on, or even if it's just a good message.

So floor is yours. My man. Thanks. I appreciate it. Like I said, I appreciate you guys having me on, um, low Bill's a very small district and we don't always get, um, a lot of recognition, but we have a, a very good group of kids here. Um, they work very hard. They earn everything that they get. Got seven, 17 years.

Like I said, on the basketball team that had some nice classes underneath them. Um, these guys have worked very hard to get where they're at. So, um, you know, if anybody can tune in, um, most of our games are either they're on YN, Youngstown sports network, usually, um, they have them televised or sometimes on the radio, but, um, come see us play one game, um, you know, listen to us on the radio.

Um, I, we have a Facebook page. If you just look for Lowville boys basketball, you want to keep updated with us. But, um, I'm very confident that if we stay healthy, it's gonna be a fun season and, um, look forward to working with these kids again. And, um, I think you'll see our passion, um, and the kids passion and how hard they work.

Um, just give it a shot. Let's, you know, either come to a game or, or listen to a game.  yeah, we were 20 and five last year record, maybe to the district championship game last to St. Thomas Aquinas. We now moved up a division, um, and got pretty much all the same things back, so should be a fun year and, um, looking forward to it.

Absolutely great. I, I do follow Lowville. We've had a lot of people from Lowville on, uh, the program here and on the show and everything like that. So I'm going to be keeping a close eye basketball season on you here, coach. So. Look forward to the season coming up and I will be rooting for Lowville, uh, this coming season for you.

That is going to do it for this week's episode of the ride home ranch podcast. Again, Matt Olson. Thank you for joining. Really do appreciate you taking time outta your day to come on here, to, to talk with us. Uh, but that is going to do it. And as always, if you like to show, be a friend, tell a friend, if you didn't tell 'em anyways, they might like it just because you didn't, uh, that's gonna do it for me and I will see y'all next week.