Dive headfirst into the heart and hustle of high school sports with David Frank, an Erie native with a playbook full of wisdom from his coaching career, which spans the fields of Pennsylvania to the courts of North Carolina. This episode is an intimate huddle that will have you reminiscing about the golden days of high school athletics and the coaches that shaped us. We're tackling everything from the cultural melting pot of sports loyalties in Erie, to the emotional rollercoaster of rooting for the underdog Pittsburgh teams. David, with his rich storytelling, brings to life the stark contrasts and unifying spirit that mark the high school sports scene.
Laughter and strategy collide as we examine the parallels between commanding a football team and commanding a stage. It's a discussion that's as profound as it is entertaining, with David's journey as a coach shedding light on the art of connection. We share memories of athletes who chased college dreams alongside those who played for sheer love, and celebrate the unexpected joys of delivering punchlines to unconventional audiences. If you ever wondered how the lessons of the locker room might just be the secret to killing it in comedy, you're in for a treat.
As we round off this episode, we embrace the essence of mentorship in coaching, revealing how the game goes beyond X's and O's to the heart of personal relationships. From David's encounters with powerhouse football programs to the touching tale of Thanksgiving generosity, this is more than just a conversation about sports—it's about the communities that sports create. And for the true fans, stick around for our 'Fast Fiddy 5' segment, where rapid-fire questions uncover surprising insights and a touch of '90s nostalgia. Don't miss out on this episode that brings the locker room camaraderie right into your living room.
Dive headfirst into the heart and hustle of high school sports with David Frank, an Erie native with a playbook full of wisdom from his coaching career, which spans the fields of Pennsylvania to the courts of North Carolina. This episode is an intimate huddle that will have you reminiscing about the golden days of high school athletics and the coaches that shaped us. We're tackling everything from the cultural melting pot of sports loyalties in Erie, to the emotional rollercoaster of rooting for the underdog Pittsburgh teams. David, with his rich storytelling, brings to life the stark contrasts and unifying spirit that mark the high school sports scene.
Laughter and strategy collide as we examine the parallels between commanding a football team and commanding a stage. It's a discussion that's as profound as it is entertaining, with David's journey as a coach shedding light on the art of connection. We share memories of athletes who chased college dreams alongside those who played for sheer love, and celebrate the unexpected joys of delivering punchlines to unconventional audiences. If you ever wondered how the lessons of the locker room might just be the secret to killing it in comedy, you're in for a treat.
As we round off this episode, we embrace the essence of mentorship in coaching, revealing how the game goes beyond X's and O's to the heart of personal relationships. From David's encounters with powerhouse football programs to the touching tale of Thanksgiving generosity, this is more than just a conversation about sports—it's about the communities that sports create. And for the true fans, stick around for our 'Fast Fiddy 5' segment, where rapid-fire questions uncover surprising insights and a touch of '90s nostalgia. Don't miss out on this episode that brings the locker room camaraderie right into your living room.
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 is a teacher and a coach. David Frank joins the show. David, thanks for joining, man. Yeah, absolutely Thanks for having me, mike. Hey, not a problem. So, first and foremost, for all the listeners out there, you know where are you from, where did you grow up, and you know kind of what high school did you go to and everything like that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So for me, my journey started up in Erie and went to Iroquois High School, small school outside of Erie, started my coaching career there and then, you know it's kind of been have whistle will travel for a while. After that uh spent some time down in north carolina at uh hickory high school the uh 2023, uh nch saa state champions this year for the hickory red tornadoes and then uh came back up home to erie and and bounced around uh, when I met johnny uh falconi, I was the head coach out at Seneca not Seneca Valley For all the people listening from Pittsburgh there's a Seneca up in Erie too. We do play football north of I-80 also. So yeah, and then bounced around up here to a couple different schools and finally landed at Erie McDowell and this is going to be my seventh year at McDowell. I also have some experience working with our local coaches association, of which the last couple of years I've been the president.
Speaker 1:
Nice. I mean you mentioned Pittsburgh there, so I got to mention it. You know, I grew up an hour outside of Pittsburgh in West Virginia, so I'm very familiar with the WHIL, the Whip-E-Ole there in PA, and how competitive high school sports can be there too as well, for sure. So what would you say the difference is between that and up in Erie?
Speaker 2:
Well, you know, being 6A up in Erie, we're basically a northern cousin of the WPIL. We played North Allegheny twice last year. We've played Seneca Valley. We're scheduled to play. We're going to open this year in the Western PA versus the world against the host team, woodland Hills Wolverines at the Wolverina in week one this year, or week zero if you're one of those idiots that still calls it week zero. So you know it is. It's a particularly tough brand of football up here and you know a lot of times we have to play teams from out of state. So we play a lot of Ohio teams, we play some New York teams. We've done a lot of traveling in my seven years. I got some frequent flyer miles when it comes to riding the bus and riding the van, so I can tell you where all the good places are to stop to get a sandwich here in Western PA.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. I would love to be able to get more shows myself, being a comedian in the Western PA area, being from there, essentially just across the border in West Virginia, but it hasn't come to fruition as much as I would like it to. But you know, I always love going and getting to go back to, you know, the West Virginia PA area and the Pittsburgh area. But I got to ask you, though, being that Erie and Pittsburgh are there, who do you root for, for sports teams? Are you Pittsburgh or are? Who do you root for and for sports teams? Are you, are you Pittsburgh, or are you leaning more towards Philly?
Speaker 2:
No. So so up in Erie it's a. It's not a Pittsburgh Philly thing, it's a. We're smack dab between Buffalo, pittsburgh and Cleveland and so, up until they drive to Josh Allen, you had a better chance of finding Sasquatch up here than you did finding a Buffalo Bills fan. So it's probably 40-40 Cleveland fans, pittsburgh fans, and then you know some late-coming Bills fans and some guys that roast like the Undertaker out of the grave when all of a sudden they started getting good again. You know I'm a Steeler fan, always have been. My family's all from Western PA and you know die hard. And watching Kenny Pickett it has been die hard the last couple of years, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely. I root for Pittsburgh because West Virginia doesn't have any pro sports teams. You kind of got to find something in being that close to Pittsburgh. I always root for Pittsburgh and Steelers, but I am a Buccaneers fan. Oof, yeah, oof is right. Yeah, I'm a muscle.
Speaker 1:
Through a lot of the tough years and then once they won their first Super Bowl, everyone started saying I jumped on the bandwagon. It's like, no, I really didn't. They still had the creamsicle orange jerseys when I was rooting for them. So you know it's fun. And you know I always say too, you know I am a Pirates fan, diehard Pirates fan. Well then you know what suffering is really all about, absolutely. You know they're tough and I tell people all the time you know, moving to central Ohio, you know it's the Reds, the Guardians. Now is, you know, all you see and people see me wearing Pittsburgh gear and, like you're a Pittsburgh fan, it's like, yeah, let's say I'm a true fan, then I'm willing to war, rock Pirates gear out in public. That's how you know I'm a true fan and I'll root for them until the day I die. So yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:
If you're a Bucs fan, it's fun to know that you let Steve Young walk and go become a Hall of Famer out in San Francisco.
Speaker 1:
It's everybody man, it's. You know Garrett Cole now being a Yankee. I mean, we got him back now, but Kutchin being gone for the number of years Neil Walker, a Pittsburgh kid. You know, I said they're the farm club. For the number of years Neil Walker a.
Speaker 2:
Pittsburgh kid. You know I said that they're the farm club for the rest of the MLB. Yeah, so it was kind of fun. I started my coaching career. Well, my teaching career. I started down in North Carolina, in Hickory, and in North Carolina they pay their teachers just shy of an Olive Garden waiter. So I decided to pick up a second job. I was the public address announcer at LP France Stadium for the Hickory Crawdads when they were the low-A affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and years I was down there they had Neal Walker was there, and then the following year was center fielder number one Andrew McCutcheon, and so it was kind of cool. Spent a whole summer watching Cutch play for the Crawdads.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know it's hard to believe that. You know he was in AAA for, or in you know, the minor leagues for a little bit. You know everyone thinks he was just, you know, coming in starter and you know, got to mention it. You know, new sponsor that we have here, guy in PA to himself, matt Lando Landowski and his batting gloves and sweet hand sports. Neil Walker was actually tested out his gloves and said these are game day gloves, you know. So getting that kind of praise from somebody you know of his caliber, you know that's definitely, definitely something. But sweet hand sports, check them out at sweet handsportscom.
Speaker 1:
Tell them mike bonham, the ride home rance crew, sent you here. Uh, you won't be disappointed. Uh, it's actually the hat that I'm wearing, thanks to, uh, matt lando landowski, you know, sending me a nice hat. I'm forever wearing a hat. It people are surprised when they see me with that one. They're like, oh, wow, you have hair. It's like, yeah, I do Not for long, but you know I do have it. Yeah, it is there A little bit. That is there. But I mentioned at the beginning here too as well. You know you're a teacher, so what made you want to become a teacher? You know, and where did you get your degree at and what college did you go to?
Speaker 2:
yeah. So, uh, uh, decided that that real late in my high school career that I didn't want to be a scumbag defense attorney and go to law school. So I, uh, I decided that, um, you know what can I do where? I can, you know, help young people. I can stay involved, uh, with football and uh, yeah, and I can play golf over the summer.
Speaker 2:
So a bunch of those different factors came in and decided I was going to go to Gannon and ended up playing a year at Gannon and you know, I was probably a tweener, I was probably a Division III player, but you know, I was able to walk on because they gave me a ton of money and, you know, a great experience. I met a lot of people playing football again that I still talk to today and I really kicked off my coaching career too. So I mean the contacts that you make. You know, even if you're not a world beater sometimes, you know, think about all the guys that are coaching all over the place. Not all of them are star players. In fact, a lot of times your star players aren't the ones that make your best coaches. So you know, you never want to put on a bridge anywhere you go, because you never know. You know where you're going to need to walk over that bridge again for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I played football from the time I was in middle school all the way through high school. I wasn't the best player, I was the habitual backup special teamer. I've always said I'd make a better coach than I did a player. I've helped out here and there my son's 15 now in high school and playing football and helping him out too as well, a little bit. It's a lot of fun, it's true. You see all these star athletes that go to try to coach and they just don't make it. But you see all these guys. It's like man, this guy didn't even sniff the field, but he's all pro, he's a great coach.
Speaker 2:
There's two pieces, I think, that you've got to be in order to be an effective coach One you've got to be a communicator, and the other one that you got to be in order to be an effective coach One you got to be a communicator, and the other one you got to be entertaining. And if you can't do those two things, you're no good. It's no different than doing a podcast or doing a comedy show or whatever. You know. You got to be something that's going to be more interesting than somebody sitting there scrolling on TikTok and knocking out brain cells like that. So you know, we got a whole cast full of characters and coach Falcone he'll tell you. You know some of these guys are. You know some of these guys are lifers and and they'll. They can have a cocktail or two every once in a while and tell you some stories, for sure.
Speaker 1:
I'm sure they could. I know it's. It's great to to see you know that there are still people that you know want to get out there and you know coach and help these kids, especially at the high school level and stuff like that, because not every player that goes and plays high school football is going on after high school to play football. You know this is it, this is. I was one of them. I knew I wasn't. I was also a swimmer. I knew I was going somewhere for swimming, but loved football, loved the game, wanted to be around it as much as possible.
Speaker 2:
We've got the best of both worlds coaching at a place like McDowell. We've got kids that are burger eaters. They're there for a jersey and a burger and they're going to hang out on a Friday night. Maybe some of those guys could be players at other schools, but you know they're committed to a 6A program and committed to that sort of excellence. And then we had the number one interior offensive lineman last year in the entire country that played for us. He was an early enrollee at Penn State, cooper Cousins.
Speaker 2:
And you know, when you have a guy like that in your program especially the guy as driven as him and everybody else just kind of looks at him you know what you get. You get a lot less complaints from parents saying, well, I don't think you're getting my son recruited enough. And you say, well, you want to know what D one looks like. He's right over there, he's six, six, he's 315 pounds. He's going to rip your arms off and beat you to death with them and and then he's going to do it politely and apologize to your parents for doing so. So I mean that's the situation that we're in. It is absolutely a get to, not a got to. I get to go coach these guys all the time and, honestly, in the teaching part of it, it's just the same way. I hate to be toxic with the positivity, but you know, when you like what you do, you have a lot of fun with it. Man, you don't really work. Work it is you enjoy it.
Speaker 1:
I get that 100%. People ask me all the time you know, starting out in comedy, not a lot of money in it? You know what I mean. Like you're going to shows and you know the first couple of years people are like, oh, what'd you get paid? And I say I got paid in experience. I get paid and say I got paid an experience. I got paid to be on to go and do what I I do and it's not just I'm going on stage for and 15 minutes to an hour at a time and that's my job. No, you know that I'm doing podcasts. I got merch stores. I got a lot of things, social media you gotta keep up with.
Speaker 1:
Nowadays people are like, well, that's a a full-time and you're still working a day job too as well. You know like how do you do it? It's like I love what I do. I don't work a day in my life because I love what I do.
Speaker 1:
I love comedy, I love making people laugh and the best thing for me even after you know payment and everything like that is somebody coming up to me after the show is like you know what?
Speaker 1:
I was having a horrible day and you know just sitting there and watching your set for 15 minutes made my day better. It's a win for a day because you got to, I got to hear your jokes and I got to make me laugh and that's the best part. And lately I've been working with a company in columbus, ohio slapstick comedy. I'll give them a little shameless plug here, but they've been setting up uh prison shows and I actually went to north central correctional and did a show for the inmates there and that was the best show that I've had in 11 years of doing comedy. Everybody was so appreciative. They came up, they shook your hand and a lot of them were like, hey, you just got me six months apiece by being able to come and see this show. You made me feel like a normal human being for an hour and a half and that is the best payment in the world is hearing somebody say that I bet you they don't make you play clean in prison either.
Speaker 1:
No, I'm not a clean comic. I'm not Like. People are like oh man, you need to get into corporate gigs. Like you need to do those. I was like I am not the comedian for corporate gigs, like they have to be G-rated, no cussing at all, can't talk about this, can't talk about that. The pay is phenomenal, but I can't. I've tried to clean my setup and the lowest I can go is a PG-13 show. After that I can't do anything other than that it's tough.
Speaker 2:
Are you familiar with Tom Segura and his feud with Junior's Last Laugh?
Speaker 1:
Love Tom Segura. I've heard bits and pieces of the feud, but yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So Tom went to Lenore Ryan College in Hickory, north Carolina, and he was there just shortly before I was down there teaching and coaching. But Tom got into it with Juniors up here because they wanted him to do a clean set. And he thought he did a clean set and they busted him, basically for saying the word penis. And it's like what did you want me to call it? Anatomically, that's what it's supposed to be. But you know, it's like some days you're the dog and some days you're the hydrant. I mean, don't let anybody fool you. You know, not every day is a chamber of commerce banner day, but I'll tell you what. When you can wake up in the morning, you can look yourself in the mirror and say you know what? I'm going to give it a go today and it's going to be a good day. That's what it's got to be.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely so. I mean, so take us through a little bit of your coaching journey. You said you've been around a lot, so you know, take us through a little bit of your coaching journey.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, okay. So I started out coaching up in Erie at Iroquois, at my alma mater, for my head coach and one of my best friends, matt Glass's dad, phil Glass, who was a local legend, coached for 25 years, winning his high school coach in the program's history. And then there were no teaching gigs around here. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an unemployed social studies teacher. So I packed my bags up and I headed south. I got an opportunity to coach for a pretty storied program in western North Carolina where they valued coaching. You know, everywhere you went it was hey, coach, how you doing, and the teaching part of it was cool. It was really a have and have not kind of district. You had really affluent people and then you had really dirt poor people. So you, when you grow up kind of middle class with a lot of middle class people you're not used to that sort of scenario and then all of a sudden you realize like, ok, these people aren't that different, the rich people and the poor people, the affluent and the haves and the have-nots and so I got an opportunity to come home and teach. But there was no coaching opportunity. So I went out to Fort LaBeouf, another district up here, pretty well known for their wrestling programs, but I've also had some pretty good football up here too Notable alumni, brian Milne, that played in the league and played at Penn State and just being a part of that program, it was really cool to be someplace where it mattered again and uh. And then I took the head coaching job at Seneca in a program that is uh, really had never won and they had some limited playoff experience, but we got in and uh, after seven years, finished 35 and 35. And after going one and nine in the first year. That was learning a lot of lessons and I was really kind of distraught with when I stepped aside. It was I'm not going to say that I was fired, but I'm not the situation had become toxic. It was time for me to step aside and let somebody else take over. And I'm sitting in my driveway and one of my buddies pulls up the next day after I resigned with a six-pack of beer about 11, 30 in the morning and he goes, hey, he goes.
Speaker 2:
We were blue and white at McDowell too, and sure enough, I went and had a sit down with the head coach and then, you know, decided, you know, it's time to go coach a little bit bigger football and man, it's been a blast. It's a first class program all the way, and started out coaching running backs and had some some guys that had a lot of success, and you know. And then this year they're asking me to go back to my roots. We got a new head coach, who was we kept most of the same staff together. So I'm me to go back to my roots. We got a new head coach who was we kept most of the same staff together. So I'm going to go back and coach offensive line again.
Speaker 2:
And so what does that mean? Well, offensive line, I intend not to have the same sort of fragile egos that running backs have. You can be a little bit more candid with how things go, and I've kind of told some of these guys, like you know, hey, you're either going to put the work in or, you know, get used to sitting over on the sidelines. So it's, you don't have to kind of handle these guys with kid gloves as much. I always told my running backs I want them to play with an offensive lineman's demeanor.
Speaker 2:
When I'm coaching offensive lineman, I want them to play with an offensive lineman's demeanor. So if, if, you can't be a gentleman off the field and be an absolute animal on it. You ain't. For me it's, uh, it is one of those things where, um, you know, we've got some really, really, uh, inexperienced guys coming back and their hair just got blown back after our first couple meetings in the off season and spring ball. They're gonna figure out. I imagine some of them may say this might not be for them, but uh, you know, know, hey, with the schedule, we play.
Speaker 1:
We play Mentor, we play Steubenville, oh, Steubenville yeah, as you can hear, my wife, who you know, is from the Steubenville area, you know yeah we took the blood money.
Speaker 2:
We're going to Steubenville this year.
Speaker 1:
I pity you for going to Steubenville. That is a tough program to play in Steubenville. My son got to play there for a little bit, not in the high school level but through their Pee Wee program and up until it was time for us. When we moved here to Central Ohio in the Zanesville-Vilo area it was culture shock. When we got into the football down here he was like this is nothing like Big Red. I was like yeah, no, that's a different breed of football players there in Big Red.
Speaker 2:
Well, let's put it this way I'm not letting my wife come to that game, that's for sure. There's things that they're going to say about us that they can't unsay. My wife can't unsay. My wife can't unsee. That's not one for the children. You pack your bags and you're going off to battle with your boys.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. And I got to say you know I love that you're an offensive lineman coach, and I wish I could pick your brain a little bit, because my son's an offensive lineman. He's actually moved from tackle to center his freshman year of high school and you know it was. He is like you said. He's that gentle giant. He's a big teddy bear off the field. I mean, he just turned 15. He's 6'250" and you know he's a big boy but he talks a big game off the field. But he's a big boy. He talks a big game off the field but he's a big teddy bear, but on the field he's an absolute animal.
Speaker 2:
Mike, you've got to be what You're about my age right Mid-40s, 35., 35, so 40-ish. One of the things you're going to run into is this whole generation. They just grew up different man. They just there's a certain you know. There was no bullying program when we were growing up. It was you figured it out, and if you didn't, you know what you had a rough go of it. And there's some of that overcoming of adversity that this generation's missing.
Speaker 2:
Now I'm not advocating that we bring back bullying. Please don't let that be the part of this that's coming out but there's a certain overcoming of adversity that our kids just don't have to do. And I think that teaching these kids that it's okay to be controlled violent again is one of the biggest things that we struggle with. And just saying, hey, you know, your whole life you've been told you're the big kid, don't pick on anybody. I'm telling you pick on people again, you're allowed, it's okay. And so as soon as that switch flips and you know, sometimes freshman year, sometimes sophomore year, you know. And then you go and you understand hey, I can put my hands on a man and I can remove their soul from them, and there's no better feeling than that you talk about making people laugh. That's the same kind of feeling Like when you, when you put your hands on somebody, you put them in the ground when they don't want you to. That's such a great feeling.
Speaker 1:
You know, and I've raised my son with that old school mentality, I told him don't come out picking any fights, but if somebody's picking on you and they start the fight, you damn sure better finish it Like that's yeah, I don't want you, don't you go and start fights, but you finish it. And a little quick story about him. And you know, he, being an out-of-towner, when we were here you know, and moved here, you know they don't give him the benefit of the doubt, but somebody was picking on one of his friends who was a lot smaller than him. He has some issues, some medical things, he had to wear braces on his legs and stuff like that. And somebody was picking on him and my son went, picked him up and put this kid right onto the ground and when they asked him they were like, well, he's picking on Jason.
Speaker 1:
I don't like people picking on my friends. And that was his excuse. Yeah, he still got suspended, but it was still like. I was like you know what, I'm not even mad at you. You know what? You're not going to get in trouble for me because you were sticking up for one of your friends who was getting picked on and was getting bullied because he had something wrong with him. Kudos to you, bubba. But like I said, don't start it, but you damn sure better finish it.
Speaker 2:
Well, yeah, it's one thing taking up for your guy, but you don't want your kid to grow up to be likes to fight guy because likes to fight guy, you know, at some point he turns 35 and, uh, you know he's still trying to wear affliction t-shirts to the bar and go. Uh, uh, you know, still pick fights at 35 and at some point that gets a little bit old yeah, absolutely, and you know, hold on what's.
Speaker 1:
She's got something. I don't know what it is. I'll this. I've been having my hand on my mouth. I have a bridge for teeth and it fell out during the start of the recording and I think my dog found it because I couldn't find my tooth. And now my dog is eating my tooth.
Speaker 2:
That sounds not only uncomfortable but expensive. Oh no, no, oh no, no.
Speaker 1:
Oh God, oh, even worse. It was one of my son's fish hooks. It was a fish hook. It's even worse. Yeah, this is how it goes here in the Bono household, are you okay, but yeah.
Speaker 2:
There's a weight on it too.
Speaker 1:
Completely off topic, I just saw her eating something. I was like I guarantee you that's my tooth. That's not going to end well for me like this. She might have already eaten it, I don't know, I really hope I can't find it.
Speaker 1:
I really hope she didn't. Anyways, we'll figure that out later. But you know, you and good old Johnny Falcone, you actually got to coach against each other on a seven-on-seven passing scrimmage. What was for the coaching association? You've done some recruiting and such together and how was that experience with Johnny and getting to know him, and yeah, what was it like coaching against Johnny?
Speaker 2:
So it's kind of funny. He was a little bit of an anomaly for that area, that whole like um at sharon, like that east of youngstown area, uh, over on the pa side, those guys are all cutthroat and uh, you know they don't want to help anybody, they don't want to share film with anybody. That'll talk to anybody. It it is um, you know it's not the best side of football and so immediately when Johnny and I hooked up, it was one of those things where we were trying to work together. He'd be looking for some film about somebody, I'd dig it up and find a form or whatever, and vice versa. We're getting ready to go play in the playoffs and all of a sudden a bunch of films would show up in my huddle queue and it was great.
Speaker 2:
And you know there's a certain competitive nature that you know happens. But you know, off the field, man have some camaraderie, and working with the Coaches Association and that's a part of where we were working together it kind of builds that camaraderie. And we've even gone so far as we started bringing the officials in. Like we got a meeting here in two weeks where you know we sit down and we do a little Q&A with the officials. It's not a firing squad or anything. It's designed to make high school football better, and Johnny was always all about that and that's one of the reasons why he's always welcome up here. He's welcome at our meetings and, gosh, when you're working for Bethany, he was popping up and popping in. He was popping up and popping in, and so I mean it's one of those things where having that experience of just dudes who know how to do things, not do things the right way, is really kind of a big deal.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely. You know I love Johnny to death. I met him in college at Bethany. We both went there, we both went there, we both were athletes, so we kind of were in the sports complex together. Albeit, he was a football player, I was a swimmer. There's nothing wrong with being a swimmer. You giggle every time, my wife giggles every time. But it grew a friendship and you know, I even say this to this day I wish I had a third of Johnny's energy that he has. Like he, the Energizer buddy got nothing on Fitty.
Speaker 2:
When you wake up in the morning.
Speaker 1:
You talk to him first before you talk to me. Yeah, that's yeah, he's up early. I'm up early too as well. I'm up at 6 am every day. Every day when I wake up, there's a text from about 5 to 5.30 in the morning from Johnny that is asking about the show and stuff like that. He helps me manage the show here. It's always something. At his wedding, his new wife and I decided that and he helps me manage the show here, so you know it's always something.
Speaker 1:
At his wedding, his new wife and I decided that you two were more in love than we were with you guys there you go.
Speaker 2:
Full disclosure. I mean pretty much every guy's got somebody like that. That you know you got to have a bro man, you got to have somebody that you can run stuff past and uh, you know we all love our wives and everything, but at the same time you know everybody's got that dude. So it's like what's?
Speaker 1:
up. Definitely, my dude is definitely johnny, for sure. Uh, and you know it's funny because people are like, well, well, you know, why'd you, why'd you bring Johnny on? And you know, to help manage the show is like, well, basically it's two paisans running this show here now and it's just it makes it even better. You know what.
Speaker 2:
I mean, well, we actually had a big thing on staff when I first came on is that? You know, growing up my grandmother always said I Italian instead of Italian. All the Italians on staff took offense to that. We kind of had a little bit of a rivalry. It was the Eastern Europeans against Italians. All in good fun, of course, talked a lot of stuff. The old offensive line coach, graco, he uh he, he always talk about oh, it's the times we talked the world how to eat.
Speaker 2:
And so, uh, you know the Sun Tzu, the art of war man. You got to know your enemy, so I started figuring out how to make Sunday sauce. I make a nice lasagna, you know I make make. You try to try to defeat your enemy by learning from so all good fun.
Speaker 1:
Of course I will say this my full irish wife is now like perfected the sunday sauce recipe.
Speaker 1:
I don't even know what it was called yeah, she, yeah, she didn't even realize that, because every sunday she would ask me. I was like well, what do you want for dinner? It's Sunday, we have sauce on Sunday, like that's. We have some type of pasta and sauce on Sunday, and every Sunday I know she's like all right, pie's on, taste the sauce. Make sure it's up to par for you, because that's the one thing she hates cooking for me is any type of pasta. It's very intimidating.
Speaker 1:
I don't ask you about my potatoes no, yeah, but I asked you about my sauce and it's intimidating because, it I. I grew up. My uh great grandparents were straight off the boat from from italy and they made homemade sauce every sunday. And she's like I can't compete with that. I was like, well, don't try to compete with that, because you're never going to amount to that. There's nothing in the world that's going to come close to that. Just do your best. She's got it down to a science now. It's definitely a lot of fun. I can't win on potatoes, not noodles.
Speaker 2:
it's not noodles, but you know well, I don't know if you over in like, like that East Liverpool area right there over, right by that West Virginia, ohio area, coach and I and Seneca we had a kid that transferred. He came in in middle school when he ended up being like a 7,000 yard quarterback for us and and his dad was a local legend the scarbinos, uh, dad was I played against.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, we know the scarbinos very well.
Speaker 2:
Yeah so joey, uh joey threw for over 5 000 yards and ran for 2 000 uh uh for us in just three years. And then I left and he transferred to the place we don't talk about on 10th Street up here and he had a great family and Big Joe had Thanksgiving at my house one year because the rest of the family had already gone back to Ohio and he was stuck up here working for the plumbing company. Yeah, come on over, have some Thanksgiving, yeah.
Speaker 1:
It's still just. She grabbed something again, honey. I don't know what it was. It's gone. Now, there we go. The dog may have finished off the tooth. I'm not checking her shit tomorrow. Anyways, yeah, this is the Bono family. Well, there's never a dull moment here in this house. You can go out with the skimmer tomorrow? I'm not, but yeah, so when were we even going with this? You know, Get off track.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, like I got derailed a little bit too. Oh, like he's now a star, this you know. Get off track. Oh yeah, like, uh, I got derailed a little bit too. Um no, I just talking about that. That part of ohio, uh, down there, uh down around a panhandle, it's uh, that's pretty cutthroat competitive football down there too. It's uh. Absolutely. You know a lot of places where steel mills made the hard people and steel mills left, but the hard people didn't. My dad is a was of places where steel mills made the hard people and steel mills left, but the hard people didn't.
Speaker 1:
My dad was a third generation steel mill worker. So you know I grew up in that lifestyle. You know the blue collar lifestyle where you know I, the reason I'm in comedy is because my parents and everybody, we all ragged on each other. It was you're either part of the joke or you're the butt of the joke. So you can either go along or you can just be upset about yourself and you know so. But football Friday nights in that area, the town shut down. I loved it. I loved every minute of Friday nights. You know it's yeah, varsity Blues come to life, that is.
Speaker 2:
Look at the national kind of podcast comedy scene. It's not these East Coast and West Coast guys that are taking over. Think about some of the biggest podcast guys going. A guy like McAfee who's from down in Pittsburgh, yep. And then you've got the Kelsey brothers who are, you know, cleveland Heights, you know kind of regular dudes. I mean gosh, it works so well for Travis. He ended up laying in Taylor Swift. I don't care about the music, I care about the paycheck. I think he did alright there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he knows where his bread's buttered. He's not dumb at all. Kudos to him. You mentioned it and I want to bring up this. One last thing get your thoughts on this. Before we get into this last segment here Talking about NFL guys and everything like that, I want to get your thoughts as a head coach. What do you think about Bill Belichick not getting a head coaching job this cycle around?
Speaker 2:
Well, you know, I think he's a Bill Parcells guy. So Parcells always said you know how do you want me to cook dinner, but not let me shop for the groceries? So as soon as he was asking for personnel decision-making, that was kind of out. A lot of people had realized that post he was asking for personnel decision-making, that was kind of out. A lot of people had realized that post-Tom Brady, and even with Tom Brady, some of the decisions they made in a draft and some of the free agent signings they made were less than optimal.
Speaker 1:
And I think the other thing is if you watched the roast of Tom Brady last night at all on Netflix, I missed it, but I've been seeing all the clips on TikTok and everything and I've been laughing my ass off all day. It was phenomenal.
Speaker 2:
Oh, one right after another. I can't believe that they allowed that to happen, because it was just absolutely some of the most famous people in football and in comedy just absolutely hammering each other. Yeah, and Bob Kraft I think is part of the reason why Belichick didn't get a job. Those famous people in football and in comedy just absolutely hammering each other. Yeah, and and bob craft I think is part of the reason why belichick didn't get a job. He called down to arty, blank down with the falcons and he said you can't trust this guy. And uh, and so I mean that that I think sunk belichick. He wasn't gonna go take some shit job. He wanted to make sure that, uh, it was gonna be someplace. He thought he could win and as soon as they didn't let him pull the strings, he was out. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
I mean he's that old school. He was set in his ways. I mean 20 plus years up there in New England and all the championships he won I mean his resume speaks for itself. He is the goat of coaching in the modern NFL. It's hard to match that resume. But you're right, he wanted to call the shots and nobody wanted to give him that opportunity.
Speaker 2:
Ask the people in Cleveland after they got to the AFC Championship game and lost when he was with Schottenheimer, and then back when he was running the show before they moved to Baltimore. I mean, he proved he's a good coach. His resume says that he's the greatest because of the Super Bowls, but Tommy went 1-1 without him and he didn't without Tom. So I think the proof was in the pudding. Neither one of them wanted to admit it. But yeah, I mean, obviously working together was their best work.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, and you know I couldn't agree more with you on that one. But here, coach, we are running down near the end of the episode here, so I do have to get this segment in because our good friend Johnny will kill me if I don't get it in. But that is the Fast 55. Five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast, johnny Fitty Falcone and I mean these really, I don't think, have anything to do with what we've been talking about for the entirety of the 45 minutes that we've been on here, if anybody knows Johnny and knows how random these questions could be and he sent these to me today, so you know I get to read them for the first time with you as part of the fun of this, and they're kind of rapid fire. But you can elaborate if you need to. So if you're ready, dave, we'll get started. Let it rip Tate and Chip. All right, if you could go back to college and pick between either going to the University of Hawaii or Alabama University, which one would you pick to attend?
Speaker 2:
Alabama because the football was good and Southern girls were beautiful.
Speaker 1:
Can't be mad at that. I knew he was going to have a Hawaii question, being a Hawaii University fan, so I have to say that here. But question number two are banana splits overrated or underrated?
Speaker 2:
Overrated, unless it's the King's Castle from Kings, all right.
Speaker 1:
Question number three the best restaurant for wings in Erie is Park Tavern.
Speaker 2:
Park Tavern. All right. Next question Herbie XX Cajuns, it's not close. If you've got to be on the west side, it's Otis. Well, I've got to say that because their wings are good and they're a big sponsor of McDowell.
Speaker 1:
All right, all right, not bad at it, but that because their wings are good and they're a big sponsor of McDowell. Alright, Not bad at it. But question number four when does Mike Tyson rank as a heavyweight boxer in your all-time rankings Number two? Number two Muhammad Ali. Yeah, that's a solid top two right there, the way it is.
Speaker 2:
I'm sure going to watch Tyson versus Jake Baldwin 100% watching that.
Speaker 1:
There's no chance that it's free on Netflix. Oh, game on. I already got it circled on my calendar no bookings allowed this day. Nothing going on this day. I am watching him destroy Jake Paul. That is exactly what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:
All the young guys think that Paul's got a chance.
Speaker 1:
They don't know anything. No, all right. And last but not least, what five things name place so forth are things from the 90s people would remember.
Speaker 2:
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:
Could you repeat that? What five things names, places and so forth are things from the 90s people would remember.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so from the 90s, things that people would remember Seinfeld, yep, aol in the dollar zone. I'm going to say I hate it. But the Dallas Cowboys, yeah. Michael Jackson and one more yep, come on. I did not have relations with that woman. Miss Lewinsky, that last one, I did not have relations with that woman, ms.
Speaker 1:
Lewinsky, that last one was by far the best answer that we've had on this segment here, but that was the Fast 55. You survived the Fast 55 for sure. Like I said, the most random of questions and I say this at the end of everyone. But Johnny has a theme that he tends to harp on and lately it's been food. Normally it was animals he had an animal question to everyone but food has popped up in every single Fast 55 we've had in this season, so I'm interested to see where he goes with that for sure absolutely looking forward to it yeah, but like I said, dave, we are running down near the end of the episode here.
Speaker 1:
I do give every guest this opportunity at the end of every show, if there's anything you want to get out there, whether it's for your school, uh, anything else you got going on, or even if it's just a good message. I'm going to give you about a minute and the floor is yours.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So just remember that in today's day and age, there's a little bit of a war against the game of high school football, and part of it is it's the last sport that isn't dominated by a you and trout. Part of it is also what's happened with concussions in those situations. And so, as we continue to work to make the game safer, as we continue to work to make the game better, remember this the lessons that the young men that grow up to become the leaders of our country need high school football is such an engine and such a vehicle for that country need. High school football is such an engine and such a vehicle for that. And so support your local high school football teams. Go out to see a game on a Friday night, be a part of your community, because you're not going to get that with your AAU team. You're not going to get that with your travel this or travel that team.
Speaker 2:
There's nothing like high school football. I can tell you, walking into a school, the whole culture of the building is better when the football program is good and I'm very fortunate to be in a place like McDowell where that is, and you know as we navigate this way through with our brothers to grow the game and for it to be better. I couldn't be prouder to be the president of our coaches association, the NWPFCA, and help put that message out there Like, hey, this is what we do. This is how we're helping people to become better citizens of our country and to be better fathers and to be better husbands. So I appreciate you having me on, mike, not a problem.
Speaker 1:
Dave, this was a lot of fun. One of the more fun coaches I've gotten to talk to lately here. But yeah, this was definitely a great show. But that is going to do it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. I want to thank my guest, dave Franks, for joining. This was a lot of fun. Everyone go check him out. Keep in touch with McDowell Football up there NPA, I know I will and keeping up and seeing how this season goes for you, coach, I got high hopes for you this year and we'll be following you all season long. But, 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.
