Have you ever taken a stroll down memory lane and found yourself embroiled in the heartwarming tales of a small-town hero? That's exactly what happened when I sat down with coach Matt Altomare, the pulse of Leetonia High School football, whose story is as deeply woven into the fabric of Leetonia, Ohio, as the gridiron itself. Our conversation traverses the cherished corridors of community bonds, Italian heritage, and the legacy of following in his father's coaching footsteps, a poignant reflection that's sure to resonate with anyone who holds their hometown close to their heart.
It's a gripping tale of destiny and determination as we unearth the serendipitous paths our careers have taken. You'll be privy to the twists of fate that saw me sidestep from a 2.0 GPA college graduate to a stand-up comedian, and Matt's journey from the field to the sidelines, molding young athletes with the same vigor his father did. We swap stories of Fiddys legendary networking skills, a testament to the power of connections that bind us, whether in comedy clubs or coaching huddles.
As we wrap up, you'll feel the grit and passion of high school football coaching coursing through your veins. Matt opens up about the ebb and flow of his career, the hiatus he took for his family, and the drive that led him back to the game. The candid tales of navigating through a losing streak and aiming for a triumphant return to Leetonia's glory days will leave you cheering from the sidelines. So if you've ever wondered about the life lessons sports impart or simply enjoy a good chronicle of redemption and revival, this episode is a score for your listening playlist. Share it with friends, family, and the guy next door – because stories like these are the touchdowns of the human spirit.
Have you ever taken a stroll down memory lane and found yourself embroiled in the heartwarming tales of a small-town hero? That's exactly what happened when I sat down with coach Matt Altomare, the pulse of Leetonia High School football, whose story is as deeply woven into the fabric of Leetonia, Ohio, as the gridiron itself. Our conversation traverses the cherished corridors of community bonds, Italian heritage, and the legacy of following in his father's coaching footsteps, a poignant reflection that's sure to resonate with anyone who holds their hometown close to their heart.
It's a gripping tale of destiny and determination as we unearth the serendipitous paths our careers have taken. You'll be privy to the twists of fate that saw me sidestep from a 2.0 GPA college graduate to a stand-up comedian, and Matt's journey from the field to the sidelines, molding young athletes with the same vigor his father did. We swap stories of Fiddys legendary networking skills, a testament to the power of connections that bind us, whether in comedy clubs or coaching huddles.
As we wrap up, you'll feel the grit and passion of high school football coaching coursing through your veins. Matt opens up about the ebb and flow of his career, the hiatus he took for his family, and the drive that led him back to the game. The candid tales of navigating through a losing streak and aiming for a triumphant return to Leetonia's glory days will leave you cheering from the sidelines. So if you've ever wondered about the life lessons sports impart or simply enjoy a good chronicle of redemption and revival, this episode is a score for your listening playlist. Share it with friends, family, and the guy next door – because stories like these are the touchdowns of the human spirit.
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. He comes all the way from one of my favorite towns to do comedy and I've done it a lot of times in Latonia, ohio. Matt Altimore, the head coach of Latonia High School, joins the show. Matt, thanks for joining. Thanks, mike, appreciate it for joining. Thanks, mike, appreciate it, love it. Hey, not a problem at all. So, like I said, I mean you grew up in Latonia and you know you're from there and you know, tell the listeners that may not know, but I've been to Latonia a bunch. I've done a lot of comedy shows at the Tipsy Cal there I love that little place. Pepsical there I love that little place. It's a great little bar. But you know, tell people what's it like in the town of Latonia Ohio.
Speaker 2:
You know it's an old town, it's an Italian town. That was the identity you know, a long time back In fact. You know my grandfather came over in 1912 when he was six years old. So the town kind of had its identity now, just like a lot of small towns in Ohio probably, where a lot of your listeners are from or where you're from. You know they went through a sort of I don't know crisis of identity there for a little bit, but you know we're still striving to thrive. I guess you could say it's a tiny town. Uh, we're the smallest school district in the county, uh, the third smallest in the tri-county area. So, uh, we're just trying to keep on, keep on. It's a great town, uh, you know, uh, the doors aren't locked right now, so I don't want to. I know this is going on the air later, so but uh, yeah, door leave, doors open, garage open. You know it's, uh, everybody knows everybody kind of feeling.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I definitely get that. I live in a small town now in Ohio. It's called Philo. It's actually considered a village. There's that little people in it. Oh, yeah, we live here. I'm originally born and raised in West Virginia, a little small town, fonesby, west Virginia. I called it Little Italy. You know, like you said, little Petonia, it was nothing, everybody's naming it in a vow when you went there. So, but yeah, a town of like 1,200 people, if that. And you know, like you said, leave the doors unlocked. Everybody knows, like, we have neighbors that still to this day don't even knock. They just kind of they. If they see the cars in the driveway, the doors open, they're coming in. They don't, they don't need to knock and you know you greet them with open arms because everybody knows everybody.
Speaker 2:
I love it. Yeah, I've been to fallingsby before. Uh, you know, probably for a maybe another podcast, but uh had a girl that I I was pretty sweet on back in the day from Follinsby and you know I spent some time there and I love that town. Love that town. You know you go down that area, you know Steubenville South and it's, you know it's a nice, it's a nice area and you're right, there are a lot of Italian communities there. So, yeah, follinsby I've actually believe it or not uh, uh, have been to before.
Speaker 1:
You're one of the first listeners in four years of doing this show that actually knows my hometown one, and actually you've been there, so I appreciate it, I love it, I love it. But yeah, you know, growing up, you know, in Latonia. You know your dad was a legendary football coach there. You know what was it like growing up with him as a coach and then ultimately replacing him as the head coach of Latonia.
Speaker 2:
High School. Sure, that's a lot to unpack, but I grew up around the sport of football. My dad started coaching as a head coach at Latonia in 1975, and I was born in 1976. I was born on a Tuesday night, I believe, and they played their final football game of the season on Thursday and I still have the ball right behind me here. You know that's the first thing that ever came in my trophy case for coaching and it's probably the last thing I'll ever take out of it Kind of proud of that. You know they signed the ball for me.
Speaker 2:
So you know, growing up, um, my dad being a football coach, with being such a small town too, you know you knew everyone and uh, you still do know everybody. And uh, you know I really enjoy that and there's a lot of times where, you know, sometimes, depending on how the game goes on friday, you might be at the local family dollar or somewhere and they might turn down the other aisle to try to avoid voyage. Or other times, you know, they might be like, hey, let me buy you a pop or a beer or something, and uh, you know that's what it's about. But you, you know everybody, um, you can connect every and not just knowing everybody, but you can connect everybody within a couple or two degree. You know two or three degrees. You know, even if you don't know somebody, you know somebody that knows somebody. That and that's why they ended up in Latonia, you know, because of those connections. So, you know, it's a great, great experience.
Speaker 2:
And sometimes, you know, I left coaching. I still taught it Latonia, but I left coaching at Latonia for about nine years. So this coming season will be the first year in 10 years that I'll be back and, uh, you know I'll be the first to admit sometimes you need to leave a little bit, uh, to kind of appreciate both the town, both the sport, both, um, you know everything that comes along with it. So, you know, coming back, um, after my last time in 2014, I've got a new and different perspective about things.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I actually get that 100%. I mean I grew up playing football. I love the sport of football. Back in the day every high school kid is like, oh, I'm going D1. Football is going to be it for it. I mean that didn't pan out for me at all, but I love the sport of football and now that my son's finally in high school he was a freshman this past year getting back into going to the high school football games and everything like that, it's like man. Now I really want to get into coaching. I just wish I had the time to get into coaching. I might actually I've been thinking about it, I've been kicking it around this year probably be able to volunteer a few days here and there with the high school team and help out where I can.
Speaker 1:
As a former high school receiver I know a little bit. I can help out where needed. I wish I could help. My son know he's a lineman. I do not know how to coach a lineman. He's the center. Now he got moved to center for a guard. It's just like dude, make sure the quarterback gets the ball and hits somebody. That's all I can do is just hit somebody. That's all I can tell you to do. He loves it and it's making me want to get into it. So, yeah, I definitely know what you mean by. You know being away from the game for as long as I have. I miss it, I miss it, and my wife yells at me every Sunday during football season is this what you're going to?
Speaker 1:
do all day. Absolutely, this is what I'm going to do all day. It's my only day off. Of course I'm going to sit and watch some football all day. But yeah, steelers fan, yeah, steelers fan. I root for the Steelers. Growing up in Fulham's B, there's no pro teams in West Virginia and being 45 minutes to an hour away from the stadium, I root for all the Pittsburgh teams Pirates, penguins and Steelers. I am a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan now because when I was real young they still had those creamsicle orange jerseys. Love them, I love those jerseys and as a kid I was like those are sweet and it just kind of stuck. And I've been a fan ever since, even through the tough years. Wow, that's impressive.
Speaker 2:
Now my daughter's uh, nine years old. Uh, she started becoming uh and she is now a diehard baltimore ravens fan, to my much my chagrin. So we are brown's family, um, I think, um one of the. There's only been two arguments I ever won with my wife over the years okay, argument number one, she's from pittsburgh, our family's from pittsburgh. Okay, and uh, of course you know being in this from the city, uh, which I don't understand about pittsburgh either, because you know people that are from pittsburgh say the neighborhood they're from, but then the people from the suburbs say they're pittsburgh, so that's a whole nother story yeah, that, yeah that.
Speaker 1:
That could be a whole show in itself.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so my wife, you know their parents are from Troy Hill, she's from Bloomfield, which are still right by the Strip District. But, yeah, another podcast. So, anyway, the point is they're diehard Pittsburgh. But our family, leetonia, we're diehard Browns fans and, you know, raised my son, right, he's a diehard Browns fans. And, um, you know, raised my son, right, he's a diehard Cleveland fan. So that's good.
Speaker 2:
Um, my daughter was the same way, just like you, uh, love the color purple, and she saw the Vikings when she was like about four years old on the TV, said, ah, I like that's my favorite team. Well, the Vikings really weren't on TV too much, but you got to see the Ravens and next thing, you know Ravens wearing purple at home and she's a diehard Ravens fan. So well, yeah, that's one of the arguments I won against. My wife was converted to at least my son to Cleveland fan. The other argument is I got a truck. So there, that's it the only two things I so there, there, that's it. There's the only two things I've ever won, that's it it reminds me of my, of my parents.
Speaker 1:
My dad makes this joke all the time and it's because he did not want to name me michael. I'm actually a junior. I'm named after my father. Okay, yeah, and he didn't. He didn't want to name me after him. My mom did. He wanted to name me Gianni Antonio was what he wanted to name me. Very Italian name, I mean. Yeah, but he said that my name was the first argument he lost with my mother and she has been undefeated, unscored upon, and she's done. He hasn't even sniffed the goal, he hasn't had anything. So he always makes the joke that he wanted to call me Gianni Antonio so he can call me G, which he still does to this day. Like, every time I call him, he still calls me G. So it's just his way of getting back to her. Well, good for him.
Speaker 1:
I definitely understand that your mother. She's undefeated, she's unscored upon, and it started with your name. I did not want you to be a junior and here we are. That's great. So you're a teacher in the school district in Ohio. I believe you had to be at least in the school system in some sort to be a high school coach. So you know how long where did you go to college? And you know is that what your degree was in was in teaching, sure.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so you know, like you said, I was born and raised in Latonia. I did get to take a little sabbatical. Uh, I went to um, a small college in canton, ohio, um, alone college. It was called malone college back then. Um that they just started football team.
Speaker 2:
Um, I was fortunate enough to play football in college from alone, um, fortunate enough just to learn a lot of life lessons but also, you know, a lot of lifelong friends. And uh, I got to the point where I was done and I actually had an opportunity to start coaching with Coach Trestle at Youngstown State, first as a student coach and then as a graduate assistant. And it just so worked out that I was a health and physical education major at Malone. But whenever the credits transferred they said, hey, you have more, more credits for being an elementary teacher. I said okay, well, that's fine.
Speaker 2:
Whatever I didn't, I'm gonna be honest with you. I hope I'm not gonna give too much of a uplifting message here to your viewers, but I probably can self-deprecate and say here I have the lowest GPA of probably any school teacher in our school district right now. Um, you know just, uh, but I made it through and uh made it through with an elementary education degree and I was very fortunate, um, my father had taken a few years off of coaching came back and when he came back, he, he kind of he asked me. He said, I'm going to come back if you come back. And I said, well, sure, I'd love to. And uh, happened to be a teaching position open at litonia, um, jumped in on that, um, that was where my student teaching was. And uh, I've never actually taught in another district. Uh, it's very rare you know.
Speaker 1:
so that's very rare to to hear that, but I kind of get it that, like you said, with the schooling and you know well, you have these credits to to do this and that. And you know, I started as a business major in college and I tell everyone you don't get to be a comedian if you're book smart. So, um, yeah, I started as a business major. Then my my advisor, like my sophomore year, was like all right, so, mike, here we have two options here for you. You can either A stay as a business major and fail out, or we can change your major and basically start over. I was like I'm paying a lot of money to be here and I'm on the swim team here. So, yeah, that's kind of. What was that second option that you had there for me? What was that second option that you had there for me?
Speaker 1:
And, lo and behold, I had taken enough business classes that my senior year my advisor was like you know, you have enough credits to have an accounting minor on your diploma, right? I was like no one's ever mentioned that to me. I had to do a victory lap because I changed my major within the five years I've been here. No one's ever said that. So yeah, so I get it. Like you know, you have those credits and I was like, do I have to do anything else for that? Like no, you have it, it's done and it's on your diploma. And I was like that's awesome. Yeah, thank you for yeah, I get it. I graduated college with a 2.0, which is the bare minimum at Bethany College that will allow you to get out of there.
Speaker 2:
Good old, bethany Good old.
Speaker 1:
Bethany College yeah, they let me graduate somehow. But I got the degree.
Speaker 2:
Well, I got you a little bit, I think, but it's been a long time. I mean, you're 25 now, so nobody cares now, right.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean I could go into college. About being in college and going to school there, I mean it's not for everybody. I get that. You know, now, looking back, being a comedian, yeah, I'm a comedian, don't really need a college degree to be a stand-up comedian, so, but you know it is what it is and you know I wouldn't change it for the world. I had a lot of life experiences. Met johnny uh, there too as well, mutual connection who connected us here together. So, um, good old johnny falcone uh, you know, met. He knows a lot of people too. Yeah, he knows so many people. Like there's times I'm like, how do you know them? How do you know this many people? He's like I don't know, I just meet people and I like to talk to people. I was like, clearly, because you know more people than me and I travel around doing stand-up shows, how do you know more people than me?
Speaker 2:
That's the truth too. It could have been a whole half a podcast. If, uh, uh, I would ask them, hey, where, where you been, what you've been doing? Because there's always something going on with him and he's always somewhere and you know, uh, it's, it's he's hard guy to keep track of too. Once you, uh, you know, try to go through his resume, I guess, oh, yeah yeah, yeah for sure, trying to go through his resume.
Speaker 1:
I mean, speaking of resume, like you you mentioned a little bit before here. You know you ran Latonia, you resigned for a little bit and then you came back. So take us through a little bit of your coaching journey. You know for the listeners out there and you know how it all basically got started and everything like that, and you know where you're at now no-transcript, and that was it.
Speaker 2:
so I didn't really have a lot of choices there, um, but yeah, so I played ball Malone wanted to keep stay around the game. My dad was still around the game. Um, you know, I went to youngstown state for a year and a half, two years uh, over two years, excuse me and uh, great experience there. You know, I could going on about the stuff I learned, the stuff I experienced, um, but you know, like being a college coach is is tough, you know, and uh, I always had in the back of my mind, you know, I wanted to settle down, I wanted to uh, you know, start a family. And you know, I kind of knew, even at 22 years old, maybe not the best, uh, career choice If you wanted to find a good, wholesome woman and, uh, start a family with. So, like I said, my father came back, asked me to come back with him, loved spending time with my family. Family's the most important thing, I mean. In fact, you know I'll get into how I ended up at Leetonia, but you know, I know it's coming up. That was strictly a family decision, you know. And so I came back.
Speaker 2:
I was assistant coach for a few years with my dad and then, uh, you know, he said, all right, you know, after 30 years, hey, it's time for you, time for you to take over and and and shine. And uh, I was head coach at Latonia first time around. I was assistant for eight years and a head coach for eight years. So I spent the first 16 years of my high school coaching career at Leetonia and you know, I had some great times. I'll tell you what the first two years, we won a league championship Boy. I tell you what, when you're young and your first two years of coaching boy, you think you know everything, especially after you have success like that. And then, you know, I had a couple bad years in there, in between there, you know years, you didn't win as many games as you wanted, but uh, um, you know, I stepped away and I needed to.
Speaker 2:
At the time I wasn't sure if it was the right decision, wasn't sure if I wanted to. I needed a couple nudges to just, uh, refresh and recharge my batteries. And, uh, I have two children, um, less than two years apart. And, and you know, I made it through when my son was born and he's 11, almost 12, probably 12, a couple of weeks from now. I made it through him. When my daughter was born there's something about daughters, man it was just like I don't know my baby girl, I didn't want to be apart from her. I mean, that was all you could think of and you know it was the best life decision for me at the time. To, you know, step back and, you know, be a husband, be a good husband, be a good father. Took a year off, but not really. I went around different schools, kind of helped out how I can did what I, you know, said hey what can?
Speaker 2:
I do to help, you know, because coaching is close fraternity, you build a lot of good relationships. So then after that I, uh I went to Canfield, uh, which is just a little bit up North, uh, for a couple of years and, uh, then I went to Salem, um, for a couple of years and, uh, both, both of those schools were because of the people that were in charge. You know, you got to coach with good people, you got to hire good people. Now you know your head coach and you know Mike Pavlansky was at Canfield at the time, one of my closest friends. Ron Johnson is at Salem, still One of my closest friends. So I wanted to, you know, enjoy that part of coaching Came up, the opportunity came up at Lisbon.
Speaker 2:
I had past relationship with their administration, um, they kind of nudged me to uh go down and and uh check things out and spent, uh, you know, four seasons, four and a half years, down in lisbon, great town, um, I don't know if you ever did any comedy down there. There's, uh, probably not a lot of opportunities, but uh, it's a great little town. Um, I always say our little try, little corridor here. Lisbon, litonia and salem are all pretty much the same places. You know, you just got to read the road signs to know. So I'll spend time four years there. A lot of build, a lot of great relationships, had some great kids, had some good seasons. And, uh, you know, the opportunity came up to come to litonia and, uh, you know, my kids go to school here. I live here, um, you know, I shrunk my commute from 10 minutes down to 1800 feet. So, um, and it's great, but I don't know how you are.
Speaker 2:
Um, I could say this, you know, now, since it's not like an official teaching podcast or whatever, the closer I get to my workplace, the more likely I am to be late every single day. So I'm always up there, I'm up there all the time, you know, being a coach and a teacher, you know, today we had baseball practice up there. We had, you know, picked a kid up for baseball. Then I was watching the high school baseball game. Um, they were playing jefferson, county christian, which is down from where you're from. You know where you're from originally. But uh, um, so watch out a little bit, come home, tried to, I don't know, I didn't even get a chance. I don't know if my hair looks good or not. No, you're good and should have known it was a hat man and I would have worn my hat. I didn't know what the proper protocol is we're not that serious here at the show.
Speaker 1:
Here we're. We keep it light here as much as we possibly, can you know good, that's great.
Speaker 2:
You know, and I and I listen to, uh, some of your stuff and that's, I love that. I love that about the podcast. I can't wait to keep checking, keep checking it out, because that's that's uh, I think that's great, it's needed. You know, you need some light and entertaining stuff to listen to. Oh, 100%.
Speaker 1:
I don't. Honestly, if it wasn't for COVID, I probably wouldn't be podcasting, because I was one of those people Like I fought podcasts, like I don't want to listen to this, I don't need this on my phone, don't want to do get into all this. But you know covet opens your eyes to a lot of gloating. You know, especially people in the entertainment world like me, you know our jobs aren't essential. You know the the world's just down yeah, I'm out of work so. So it was rough and you know, had a lot of people you know telling me um, they were wanting to sign me as a comic, to be, you know, a full-time professional comedian, leaving a day job, all this other stuff, um, and then the world shut down and then they all backed out and they said it was because I didn't have an online presence. So so, in true Paisan fashion, out of spite, I started this show to grow an online presence and it's gone pretty well. So I can't say that I'm mad at it.
Speaker 1:
But you mentioned something, eddie my wife and I live by this. Laughter is the best medicine you need that break to just times get tough. Everyone goes through it at some point or another. You got to find the funny in every situation, otherwise you're not going to make it. So you mentioned that and I like to at least mention that on as many shows as I can and remember too. But you know, laughter is the best medicine in the world for me, exactly, exactly and just talking.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you know, just talking. You know, just like what we're doing, just talk, just talking and cracking jokes, cracking wise a little bit, I mean, that's, that's what it's about. You know, the human interaction part of 2024, I think could always be improved on.
Speaker 1:
Oh, absolutely, absolutely For sure. You know I I've worked in sales. You know you get to talk to a different person every, every interaction. It's a different person coming in and it's, it's, it's fun, I love it. And you know it's something you know, trying to to teach my son, who's always just in in his, in his phone at 15, you know he's like, how about we put that away and you come sit down and have a talk with your mother and I and we'll just, we'll, just, we'll just hang out. We're not even, it's not even that serious, let's just hang out and have a conversation. He's like, oh, but I'm, I'm God, whatever. Oh, but I'm got to whatever. Dude, go ahead, see you later.
Speaker 1:
No, we're on the back burner at parents at 15. We're on the back burner.
Speaker 2:
When did the phone start? Because we're right at, we're right in the Fortnite kind of deal right now. Everything is Fortnite, you know, but we haven't gotten into the phones yet. When did the phone start?
Speaker 1:
You said your son was 15. When did yeah, when did that happen? I mean, we, we got him his his first little phone. My wife and I met we were working at at&t at the time. So we know, we, we got him his first phone. I think he was like nine or ten and it was because we weren't home a lot at sales jobs so, uh, we needed to be able to get a hold of him and stuff like that, given he was just at his grandmother's. But you know, we just we needed to be able to get a hold of him or just check in on him.
Speaker 1:
But he really really got into him. I'm gonna say it was like 11 or 12. He was really just non-stop games, texting friends that had it snapchat now and it's just like I mean, dude, I I get it, it's cool, it's fun. But you got to put that down and check out from it for a little bit, trust me, because he doesn't quite understand. When I come home my phone goes down and it's family time. If it buzzes because being in the entertainment industry it could buzz for shows all the time I'll quickly peek at it just to see. If it's important, I'll answer it, obviously, but if it's not, you can wait until tomorrow. I'm not answering it if I don't have to, that's great.
Speaker 2:
I wish I was better at that. I'm starting a new program here which I mean I know I was here, but you know, came back to litonia. You're always answering the phone or picking your phone, you know, and, uh, I wish I was better at that. You know, we try, we try to eat dinner as a family as often as possible, but you know, doesn't happen you know, but we try, yeah, like we, we get it.
Speaker 1:
Like, my wife and i's work schedules are all over the place, and especially with me with shows and stuff like that. I still do work a day job, uh, but like, yeah, today, like you know, wife doesn't get home till probably 9 30 tonight. So, wow me, me and the son, we're going to eat something, I'm going to make something for her, I'm going to have it, you know, warmed up by the time she gets home. But yeah, we, we don't get a lot of times to to eat as a family, as we should. But, as you know, as a paisan, sundays we're both off, so it's pasta day and we have, we have our sunday sauce and that's our family did dinner that we get to have as we finally get it in my son, he looks forward to Sundays because pasta and spaghetti is by far his favorite meal. He could eat it seven days a week.
Speaker 2:
I was able to make my homemade linguine with white clams last night. That's what my son wants. That sounds really good. It turned out pretty well, pretty well. You know, uh, I don't know, you know what your background your wife has, but, um, you know, my wife's a polish, german, from pittsburgh, and there are no spices that she'll put in her and her whenever she cooks something. So, uh, when it comes to you know, the sundae sauce or lasagna, or even a baked fish, that's on me, I do take pride in my cooking.
Speaker 1:
I do too. I love to cook. My wife didn't realize that when she met me that I actually like to cook. That's a little bit of therapy for me. She's full Irish and I'm full Italian. We're a very loud household. I was going to say, yeah, we're a very loud household, that's just saying that I was going to say yeah, we're a very loud household, but my wife's cooking is phenomenal.
Speaker 1:
I'll tell you that I graduated college at 165 pounds, at 6'5". I was just a little stick of a swimmer. I swam, so I couldn't really bulk up. I am now 220 pounds and that is all her. That is awesome. That is all her. I love it. That is all her, for sure. I love it. But I want to get into this. We mentioned it a little bit there before. You know, knowing the wonderful manager of the podcast here, johnny Fitty Falcone, who coached at Lowville, you know, and apparently you two had a couple of runs in with Latonia and Lowville and had some good games back when they played each other. Can you take me through some of the games and what it was like coaching, uh, against, uh.
Speaker 2:
Good old fitty well, he is an interesting character to coach against. I'll say that you know, um, and and now that I'm in, you know my 40s, have been in it 25 years. I I'm not the same coach as I was, as far as you know, maybe showing all your emotions on the field and on your side and all that. But uh, you know, you know, uh, coach Falcone there, uh, he's going to be emotional, he going to be excited and that's great. You know, uh, if he was on, I'd love him to join our staff if he had the time. But uh, uh.
Speaker 2:
So we had some intense battles, not just um, because there are two good programs too. You know, louisville and Latonia were kind of rolling, both rolling at the time, and so you know there's a lot of fans in the stands and Louisville and Latonia are kind of similar communities, or at least they used to be. You know, louisville has a big Italian presence. I believe they're the second smallest school in Moaning County. We're the smallest, but I think Louisville is pretty close to our enrollment. So you know, you had two schools, similar size, similar backgrounds, you know, and you know I'm trying not to be stereotyping or whatever, but you know, kind of what we used to do was we would look and see how many names end in vowels and they're like oh, you know, you know they got all this. You know and I know it probably wasn't right or probably isn't a 2024 thing to say, but it's kind of what we looked at because we knew there was hard-nosed kids there we did have some good battles.
Speaker 2:
I think I had the opportunity to coach against Johnny when I think he spent some time at Lisbon actually too, where I was just the head coach, and I think I remember coaching against John then also. So he'd been around. I'd been a few different places, but not as many as him. You know, I still remember one day he just texted me. He's like hey, I'm going to be the head coach at Lakeview, pa, and I didn't even know where that was. I said congratulations. I didn't know too much about it. I didn't know too much. I said, great, it sounds like an awesome opportunity, but I know it's just across the border, but I don't know it could be a world away when you cross that state border. So yeah, we've had some good battles Over the years and 25 years of coaching there's been some good games that I've been a part of Okay, so that, all being said, what is the outlook for the up-and-coming season for Latonia?
Speaker 2:
We're going to be better. I can say that with 100% confidence. It's a hard thing to answer and, believe me, people have asked me this a hundred times, if not a thousand, already. What are you going to do? How are you going to be? And you know you can't sugarcoat it. The bottom line is um, you know, uh, the program.
Speaker 2:
I was at a head coach at down in lisbon. You know, we were league runner-up last year. The program was trending in the right direction, winning more games each of the last four years. Um, and you know, you know you can't sugarcoat it Um, latonia has lost 28 football games in a row. Um and uh, so we're going to be better. I can guarantee you we're going to be better.
Speaker 2:
You know, um, you know, with with a new coach whether it's me or anybody else, you know you get some excitement. Um, I'm in the school every day, you know, and that's basically what I'm doing. I've hired some great people as assistant coaches, you know, and they can worry about that stuff. I just want to make this program something that the community can be proud of again, something that gets people in the stands. You know, coaching on the opposite end of the sidelines last year looking up at the stands, you know, I'm like there's so many things we could be doing to get the, you know, the elementary kids to the games, to get some of the old timers around town, you know.
Speaker 2:
So, really, that's, that's really my focus is trying to breed enthusiasm, breed excitement. And you know, like I said, I grew up around this sport, I grew up around this town. You know, I remember being a water boy in 1984, playing for the league championship, week 10, and there's 5,000 people in the in the stands, you know, and all around the stands. So I mean I, I know we're not going to get to that point. That's 2024. It's just the way it is, you know, over the course of, you know, almost 50 years. But you know we're going to try and so I mean that's the outlook. We're going to have a JV team for the first time since I've been gone. We want to get these kids to play football and enjoy what they're doing, and that's what it's about Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
I'll tell you this I will be trying to keep up as much as I can with Latonia high school football this year. I follow everybody, if they're a coach or a player. I try to stay in touch and follow as much as I can. My phone literally dings all the time and it's updates. I've had players who play overseas that were from here and all hours of the night because their games are different time zones. The one time my phone was dinging was score updates and stat updates from a guy that plays in Iceland right now. I think, oh, wow, and it was 3 in the morning and my phone is just dinging and my wife is like what is that and who is texting you at 3 in the morning? I was like that's a sports update for Rashad, who's playing over. He has a game today. It's in Iceland. I forgot to mute that I could not stay up. But yeah, I do stay up. If I say I'm going to try to stay up with it, I will stay up with it the best I can for you guys and I'll be rooting for you this year.
Speaker 1:
Coach, getting off of those losing streaks is tough. It is my high school. When I played there they were a powerhouse. Brook High was a powerhouse and it had the down years of, as they called it, mediocrity at 5-5 every year. And my senior year we were able to break that, go 6-4, and make the playoffs for the first time in like ten years Wow, Just seeing fans back in the stands. So I get it your football Friday night. It's kidding around Ohio and West Virginia and PA. It's football Friday night. You're right, everybody loves it and I love it. And getting to go back to the games now Now my son's back in high school has given me a little bit more rejuvenated and back into the football spirit.
Speaker 2:
Philo's got a good program too.
Speaker 1:
They got a decent program. First time really seeing it in high school with my son being a freshman this year. But I like what I saw from the coaching staff and the players and just, you know, it's a little farm town. You know, got a bunch of corn-fed boys here that are just big boys. So it's definitely good. It's good for sure. But I do have to get this one last segment in here for you. Yeah, um, because we are running down near the end of the episode and, as someone who's listened to the show before, I'm sure you know what's coming in. It is the fast 55. And that is five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast, johnny Fitty Falcone. Uh, yeah, uh, matt, these have nothing to do with what we've been talking about the entire time.
Speaker 1:
So if you're ready, we'll get going with the Fast 55.
Speaker 2:
Here we go?
Speaker 1:
Question number one what came first, the chicken or the egg Egg, okay, okay. Question number two what's a better color orange or yellow Orange? What's a better color, orange or yellow Orange? All right, what's more terrifying a polar bear or an elephant? An elephant, okay, I did not see that one coming as the answer. But question number four what is your ideal breakfast meal?
Speaker 2:
Hashbrowns and all the meat I could fit on my plate.
Speaker 1:
That's probably the best answer to a food question that we've had on this segment in a long time. And last but not least, one word to describe grapes is.
Speaker 2:
Used to make one word. Oh, now you're killing me Wine.
Speaker 1:
I was going to say I know where you're going with that Wine. Yeah, that was the fast, pretty fast. I think he took it easy on you there, Coach, for a little bit he really did.
Speaker 2:
That was a lot of either ors.
Speaker 1:
I don easy on you there, coach, for a little bit. He really did. That was a lot of either-ors. I don't get a lot of either-ors out of him. I think he took it a little too easy. I might have to get on about that. I appreciate that. It was a little too easy for you, coach. Yeah, hey, I like easy, yeah, but, like I said, we are running down near the end of the episode. I give every guest this opportunity at the end of the show.
Speaker 2:
If there's anything you want to get out there whether it's a good message or why come play football at latonia, or just anything in general that you've got to get out there, the floor is yours, coach hey, um, really, it's uh just gonna be a matter of I'd like everybody out there remember to show gratitude and thanks uh to what other people do and uh, uh, you know, every little thing matters and every little thing counts. So, you know, just look and show some gratitude, that's it. You know, that's all I got. Uh, you know, uh, latonia will take care of itself. Uh, you know, I hope uh didn't. Okay, maybe got some listeners, maybe check us out, but realistically, let's, you know, let's look into showing some gratitude I gotta tell you, man, I love it when there's a good message to end the show.
Speaker 1:
I really do. I love it when I'm all for guests coming on and helping them promote what they got going on, but when it's just a good message like that, I love the, the way that makes the show end. But that is going to do it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. Once again, I want to thank my guest, coach Matt Altimore, from Latonia, ohio and Latonia High School. Like I said before, I will be keeping up with you, coach, so hoping for good things for you and really rooting for you guys this year to break out of that slump and get back on the winning tradition there at Latonia. As always, if you enjoyed the show, be a friend, tell a friend. If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it just because you didn't. That's going to do it for me and I will see y'all next week.
