Jake Lange | UWF Offensive Assistant / Quarterbacks | The purest form of love is accountability.

In this episode of Waves of Impact, we sit down with Jake Lange, Offensive Assistant/Quarterbacks Coach at the University of West Florida (UWF). Moving beyond the playbook, Jake offers a fascinating look at how the "grind" of college athletics has fundamentally shifted in the digital age.

We explore the transition from the old-school "midnight at the library" era to a modern landscape where student-athletes are managing personal brands, social media platforms, and high-speed information processing. Jake shares his unique perspective on leadership, explaining why his role is less of a "job" and more of a "calling" to build men of character.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Key HR & Leadership Takeaways:
  • The Evolution of the "Workday": Analyzing how flexible environments (online classes) and mobile technology have altered the daily routines and attention spans of modern talent.
  • Brand Alignment vs. Workplace Behavior: Navigating the "new reality" where every team member has a public platform. We discuss how to protect the organizational profile while empowering individual brands.
  • The Culture of Accountability: Why true leadership and retention is directly aligned in everything in the daily life of a coach.
  • Reducing "Turnover" of Character: Jake shares his mission to ensure his "players" (talent) evolve into better versions of themselves, creating a legacy of excellence that lasts long after they leave the building.

Guest Bio:
Jake Lange is an Offensive Assistant and Quarterbacks Coach at the University of West Florida. A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Jake brings a blend of high-level athletic experience and a deep commitment to mentorship and player development.

Transcript

Jake copy

Ali Green Welcome. We are waves of impact sitting in with football players. And what the earth does football have to do with HR? Have to do with hospitality? Well, Jake Lang is here with us. We're going to talk all about it. I learned a little bit about Jake. And so Jake really knows the industry first of all. Second of all, highly educated so can connect all of the dots and in just a quick second or two, very inspirational. So I'm really excited and off camera off podcast, we do have other students in production. And then of course, we have students here with us. So welcome Jake. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for having me. Um, let's start with first of all, what is your role? What do you do? And just introduce yourself a little bit. Yes, ma'am. So I'm Jake Lang from Jackson, Mississippi. I work with the quarterbacks here. I'm an offensive assistant. Um, you know, really day to day, just try to get our guys better. Um, from Jackson, Mississippi, uh, don't, you know, don't do a whole lot other than work with the quarterbacks. I used to have some more responsibilities, but now, as I've kind of grown in the profession, I'm, you know, a little more focused on them. So. Yes, ma'am. That's good. So I'm hearing in my world, the employee kind of looking over and seeing all that. And you played. Yes, ma'am. And you came up through I am wondering a little bit from your experience, um, the student athlete, let's talk about the student athlete for just a second and where that has been, where it's going. And, and it's a sensitive topic, I know, but I just want to see how do you see it's changed in your view versus who we have sitting here right now? It's very different. probably I'm thinking I know a lot, but tell me a little bit about the evolution of that. So I think primarily as we sit here and look at it, right. It used to be really, obviously before all the digital age was the student athlete was an all day. I'm in class, I'm at workouts, I'm doing this. I got to study now with online classes and kind of the, the invention of that. You see a lot more student athletes that can stay at the facility regular on more regular hours and then do classes online. So I think the grind of like, I got to be up at five am at workouts at the library, and then I'm going to sleep at freaking, you know, midnight because I'm at work at the library. That's changed a little bit, um, which is probably hurting the workforce. I think what's improved about that is a lot of these younger guys that are receiving, you know, higher level messages from coaches and other people like that, they now have a platform, right? With social media and things of that nature. So you're seeing a lot of younger people do things a lot better than they used to probably. And you know, a lot of these guys have had a freaking iPhone on them since they were fifteen years old or fourteen years old. And it's not as so much as, oh, I can just go do whatever I feel is like, hey, I got, I have a brand, I have a profile, I have to protect myself a little bit. Um, otherwise a student athlete has changed is really just as far as their attention spans go. If you look probably ten years ago, it's probably a little bit higher just because, you know, people weren't on TikTok and Instagram and all that. Now it's probably a little bit lower. But within that, I think their processing speed has improved. So you're probably seeing a little bit better of like short term, you know, information, right? For short term information, speed and things of that nature, I'm in agreement with that. That actually was in the class the other day. I just realized that as well. So, um, for your education background, that is interesting to link the two. So let's talk about a little bit. Um, so giving that gave me a little bit of background, but I also want to know what is your perception? Or you can talk about in generalities in higher education football programs as far as employee feel to it, where where we're at today. And help me understand who doesn't know a lot about it. And forgive me for not knowing about the program, but this is what you all have been brought up in and these are your lives. So where is the line as far as, um, not employee, but like how you oversee the players? How does HR come into that as far as policies? I want to dig right into that. And I know that Ryan has some questions. Yes, ma'am. So absolutely. So I think the first thing a coach is responsible for is just loving players, right? Because at the end of the day, it's coaching. It's not necessarily a job. It's more of a calling, Like my job as a coach is to make all my players better men than me one day. Like I want to. I want to see Blake Boda at twenty three years old. Just freaking be way better than I ever was. I think within that right is the purest form of love is accountability. And I absolutely do love our players. And if they ever call me and ever need anything, like I'm going to help them. other things that's related to right Is it? Used to be. We're seeing a scholarship was a four year commitment. We've now got it in this age with the transfer portal and new rules where it's really a semester by semester basis. So it's expedited my process as a coach of, hey, I have to give you, you know, my impact on your life quicker. So the message has to be more concise. That was concise right there. And I'm thinking, and it takes me a while to think, but where can I interpret back to you what I heard, which is directly linked into HR, which is the culture? Yes, ma'am. So everything is about culture and how I look at it. There's a culture at UW. Culture to me is shifting a little bit because we have a new president and it should shift. Um, and then it comes down to a role like yours where you have immediate impact on the people. and the players And that's where you're saying the love is and you're able to do that. And ironically, one of the professors the other day said almost the same thing about surround yourself and with better people, if you will. that you want to launch off and have them be better than you. That's really nice of you. All right, Ryan, I'm going to toss it over to you. Yeah. you want to I know we talked about culture a little bit. I know playing here and now starting my coaching career off. Uh, our big culture is, uh, art. That's kind of what we base the program off of. Uh, maybe some of you can kind of, uh, they don't even pronounce the word, but maybe you can kind of build off of that. Like, what is art? Why do we use the word art? Uh, things of that nature. So art is the Greek word for excellence, We want to strive for excellence in everything that we do. really, there's a lot of programs out there that you'll see that have. Oh, I got, you know, Fifteen hundred buzzwords for these guys, remembering, you know, twenty five commandments and stuff like that. But we, we believe art is such a concise message and you can apply it, right? Like being art doesn't just mean, you know, having the best freaking podcast we're doing right now, It means when I open that door, I open the door the best way I can do it, right when I'm sitting there taking notes, watching film later this evening, right? I'm taking notes to the highest level. I have a lot of attention to detail when, you know, our guys are in the workout, AM I going to be art on this rep? AM I going to be art and do things the right way and take care of the little details? Or am I going to just be normal? Because the human, condition is to be average, right? You cannot accomplish great things without doing great things, Like it's not just if everybody were the same, Everybody would do everything the same, right? But the great ones do things differently. So for us, art is our way of being different. It's our way of doing things at a higher level, chasing greatness and everything that you do. That's a perfect explanation. Um, so next, let's kind of flip the script and talk about turnover. I know you talked we're talking about the transfer portal. And that in itself is like a turnover rate with coaches. And we just had a couple coaches leave. Uh, but even player wise, like the rate for the transfer portal, uh, as a coach, like how do you see and how do you help recruit? Uh, and I anticipate the turnover rate you expect. How do you even retain players? I know it's a loaded question, but how do you retain players so you have a less turnover rate and how do you replace the guys you lost? So within the retention aspect, really retaining players is an everyday process. It's not just, hey, we get to December fifteenth and oh my gosh, I need you to stay. Right? Because if that's the case, then there's no, you're never going to, that's never going to work, right? Because people are always going to be in somebody's ear. And there's always going to be this, this bag to chase and all this money and things of that nature. But really from a retention aspect, it's how you act every day, right? Because I, at the end of the day, right, if somebody's going to leave. They're going to leave. Right. But how I act every day and how I treat you every day. It should be a reflection of how much I want you. Um, generally speaking, right, like I, I'm a big believer in this as b r right? While you're here, be where your feet are. Now, if something were to happen and you couldn't be here, then that's a totally different, you know, standard and totally different deal. But being where your feet are, um, and I'm, I'm going to love my players no matter what, right? Like I'm love doesn't mean I'm just going to pat you on the butt and, you know, say you did a good job. I'm going to coach you hard, right? And love you hard. Um, really for that, right? Retention is just showing them right that I care about you every day. Now, if you want to go somewhere else, that they care about you every day, that's great. But they're not going to care about you the way that I do. Can I ask a follow up to. And I also want to get Blake in here as well. Um, is the retention in the workforce. So when we talk about retention in the workforce, we talk about how that all goes in. Talk about turnover rate. And we actually have numbers to turnover rate. You know tens of thousands of dollars. Right. And to me that also is here as well. But when we talk about retaining, um, do you think and this is just your opinion is do you think that the approach, your leadership approach helps with that retention in, um, where we're at with the transfer portal and what did you say, bags of money or whatever, somebody said it. Um, do you think that overall, you know, I'm not, I'm not being articulate with that, but, but the vibe of I care about you, I love about I love you, I, um, this is the place for you to grow because that's really what it is. Or is it the other opportunities? What do you think to to retain Your players. Does that have any. Because that's turnover. Yes, ma'am. Does that have any influence on it? Do you think? I believe it does. Yes, ma'am. I think really from that perspective. Right. Of hey, like, I'm going to love you. I'm going to make sure you're the best human being you can possibly be. And I'm going to do everything I can to help you. Right? Now, if someone were to hear that. Right. Well, first and foremost, actions speak louder than words. So I'm going to show that every day in my life. And you can ask these guys, I believe I've done that during my time here. Um, but if someone were to want to go somewhere else within that, and after hearing that and after seeing me act like that every single day, then they can go on ahead. Yeah. So again, we've had guys leave for various reasons. And I still, you know, love and keep up with every single one of them. But within that, right, like if it's somebody that's on the fence and it's, oh, I don't, you know, I maybe don't know, I'm going to try to do the best speaking through my actions rather than words. Good. Thank you. Yeah. Well, uh, tying into the positivity of, like, uh, the human relations where those, those players are retained and obviously you got the group of guys and obviously they change every semester with the culture of football the way it is. But for, for moving past that to the point of the retention, football and sports is such a culture based growth and everyone has different emotions and feelings and you have to handle people differently. How do you think guys that have been here are new here should adapt that leadership? And from your perspective, how do you think you transferring as well and being a leader, being the starting quarterback? Um, whether even when you were a freshman versus a senior, how do you address taking that leadership role and how do you take those next steps to become a better leader? Even when you are a leader, like how do you keep grinding to take that next step? You know, every day as you, as you work towards the season and whatnot. I would say, um, within that, the biggest thing we've talked about this probably every day since you've been here, but it's just your non-negotiables, right? Of how you carry yourself. Right? To me, it's always excellent attitude, excellent effort and willingness to learn. Right. And people will see that and they will naturally follow if you do it right and you live it every day. Um, as far as growing as a leader, I'm a big believer in never let anyone else sweat you, right? Whether that's working out extra right as a player or even now as a coach, right? I'm in the office before everybody else and staying later, right? Usually the person that works the hardest in a general speaking sense, unless there's, you know, something else, there's they're, they're going to gain a lot of respect because of that. Um, when I was a player, right, the way that I grew as a leader, I was a big believer in reading. Right. So I've read probably seventy books in the last two years. Um, so I always try to read and, you know, glean from what I was reading and translate it into what I'm doing. Right. There's a great, there's a great, um, quote. It's a leadership thing that they studied, I think twenty five team captains from all over the world in two thousand and seven. And there were seven components of a great leader and a lot of them, I think just off the Dome is two of them were just great attitude and great effort and a willingness to lead others. Right? Like, there's one thing to say like, oh, I want to lead, but. Right. But what does that mean? The cost of leadership is not just, oh, I'm, you know, you, I'm telling you to do this right. You're doing it right. Leadership is pulling people with you, right? You're never going to be the most liked. You're going to hurt people you care about. And really you're going to have people disagree with you. But you can't let those disagreements, you know, hurt the group, right? So that's growing. It's a long winded answer to say, but growing as a leader is how you act every day and how you do everything. That's how you show up. Yes, ma'am. So that's a Harvard. I give you all of that. That's a that's a good one. Brian. What? I don't even know what time. What time is it? Eleven oh one. Okay. Thank you. Um. Ryan. Yes, ma'am. Uh, so kind of going back to the script a little bit too, uh, there's policies and procedures in the workplace. Uh, and we have policies and procedures, uh, that we give students every fall camp, uh, the guys who are going to be on the team for the season. Um, why would we have policies and procedures? Um, how do we, and how do we enforce those policies and procedures from your aspect, uh, and stuff like that. The reason why we have our policies and procedures, right, is to give you a foundational baseline of how you should act every day, right? There's small details like, hey, finish your plate, finish everything you eat. So, you know, keep a shirt on, you know, when you're outside of the locker room to, you know, hey, don't get arrested obviously, right? Things of that nature, but really it's to give you a foundation and then to let you grow within that foundation. And then how we enforce that right? It's a it should be coached the player at first, but eventually. Right. Players should take over that leadership role. It's not good. We always say this all the time. It's good. Teams are coach led. Great teams are player led right. The best teams I've ever been a part of. Hey the players really to be honest with you right. The players are almost running the practices. They were players were running the meetings. Players were, you know, enforcing those policies. Um, but really we want to give you guys that for the foundation. And then we want you guys to end up carrying that out as you go through it and being able to see it and constantly see it. Right. That helps you do that. So one of the things I will say, I, as you were saying that I remember the first day in class actually going around introducing, what do students want to be? Again, this is HR. It's the only human resources class that hospitality gets. And now sport management gets. It's the only one. I think it's the most important one. Um, because we talk about the laws. But when we talk about policies, I remember specifically with Ryan asking you and he said he wanted to go into coaching and I thought coaching and higher education. Many times you get into these positions and you're focused on the leadership aspect, and underneath are all the policies and they're all in place because you are a state employee, right? We can't forget that you work for UWF, who's a state institution, and we align with the state laws. And you have to know that as a coach, you have to know that as whatever role you are as an employee, right? So that's really important to do. And we had that little, I don't know if you remember that is all of a sudden I was like, there is a direct link. You have to know all of that. So good. All right, we're going to run out of time. Do you have a concluding question? Cam, do you have any questions? You go ahead, Blake. And then cam will come next. Well, where are we? Yeah, let's just. Because we don't want to. Um, well, I mean, that's like, you know what's I know, I know, I know a lot about you, but obviously there's something I don't know. There's got to be something I don't know. Um, I know you're big into obviously stuff like that. Love the beach, but it's something we don't know. Yeah. Something you don't know about me. So you can say out loud. All right. So growing up, I was in the choir, and then I was in a worship band in high school. I play the guitar and sang. Do you still sing? Uh, not as well as I once did. Okay. All right. But you could, like, sit. You could really sing, but I wouldn't say really sing. I'd say, yeah, I was probably about a seven out of ten. Okay. Like you could sing Happy Birthday, and nobody's looking at you like a weirdo? Yes, ma'am. I agree with that. All right. That surprises me. Cam, what is your biggest challenges, either with your coaching or like just as far as like the biggest adversity I've overcome in my life or like challenges from a day to day aspect is the first one. Okay. So this would be, this would be a little long winded, but. So growing up, I was actually, I was short, I was fat and I had glasses. Uh, I was bullied, so I actually transferred schools, um, when I was in the third or fourth grade. And then I never, you know, I was always like a fun kid and I always, you know, had a positive attitude. But really, I was probably picked on until I was eighth or ninth grade. Um, and then from there, I remember, I really like, I really wanted to be the starting quarterback for my school. Like I'll never forget, like I was, I wanted to be the guy. Um, and everyone was like, you're crazy. Like, this is never going to happen. And I went from five foot four to six one in the summer. Um, I didn't put on any weight. So I kind of stayed the same. And then my sophomore year, I was I looked like that water bottle, I was skinny. Um, and then my junior year starting the season, I was our fifth string quarterback. Um, and then really with no injuries, none of that. I worked my way up to be the starter. Right. Just kind of how I performed every single day. Um, my first start was against our biggest rival and I'll never forget our student. Their student section laughed and our student section was like, what's going on? Um, we did proceed to put up a lot of points in that game, so that was fun. I was in college, I had to walk on, right? I was I was playing safety as a freshman, moved back to quarterback. And then from there I was started the season as the fourth string. Um, two guys got hurt out or one guy got hurt out outplayed another, and then my first ever game traveling. I came off the bench and threw for three hundred yards because our starter got hurt on the first play of the game. Um. I then proceeded to get benched at the end of that year. Um, was not put on scholarship and then that next year, oh, I take that back. So I was put on scholarship and then I was taking off scholarship, uh, going into the next season. Still not really sure why, but you know, the Lord's plan was better than mine. Um, started that year as the fourth string and then worked my way up to be the backup. And then we were playing our homecoming game and we were down, I think two touchdowns or something like that, and then ended up coming in in the fourth quarter, winning the game. And then I will never forget I saw my mom, I saw my dad. And then I remember being like, thank you, Lord. Like this is it was just an unbelievable moment. Um, and then from then, I didn't start my last year at Southern Miss, so I transferred to Delta. Right. Was on and off playing And really from there I was like, man, I'm screwed. Like didn't play much in my life. I played a good bit. I didn't play a ton. Right. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I knew I wanted to coach. I just didn't know where. And then somebody texted me and said, hey, what's Flora's got a job. And then Coach Noble's our head coach texted me and it was, it's been great ever since I was a very long winded answer. But really, the over adversity I've overcome throughout my life has really just been people saying, I can't do it. Mhm. Um, and just not having a lot of belief. And within that, I had to have a lot of belief in myself and manufacture that. And that created your worldview and where you are today. Yes, ma'am. It's very kind hearted person, I can tell. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it and that's that.