Episode 220 - How the Cow Ate the Cabbage

Nokona Powell is the GM of the new Pearland Cobblers summer collegiate team in Pearland, Texas. They will be playing this summer in the Cowboy Collegiate Baseball League. Nokona shares his background in baseball, football and soccer, and talks about the businesses he owns. He talks about the league and where the Cobblers are going to be playing. He also shares his Proffitt & Loss.

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Transcript

0:17

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Earned Fun Average podcast. I'm your host, Eric Prophet, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas, and with me as always, I have Johnny Bolin, Lake Charles Gumbo Gator super fan, and of course, on a beautiful evening here at the Bayou Broadcast Center. three state championships as of yesterday. You got football, boys basketball, and boys track. Oh, track. Okay. And Calhoun City. And what is Calhoun City? Are they... Is it, like, 1A? 1A. 1A. Now we don't have decent place to eat here, but we've got three titles this year. Hey, can't beat that. I love it. Well, Johnny, we're, uh, gonna talk a little summer collegiate baseball today, so we have Nacona Powell with us. How are you today? Good. Good. Happy to be on, happy to be a part of it, and looking forward to it. Yeah, we appreciate you joining us, so we'll kind of start right there. So, you work in summer ball. Would you mind telling everybody, uh, who the team is and what you do with the team? Yeah. So we are the Pearland Cobblers. We're part of the Cowboy Collegiate League, which falls underneath the Players League. 13 teams in Texas, and I'm one of the 13 general managers, being with the Pearland Cobblers. I love it. So, uh, one thing that we wanna do to kind of kick off is talk about our favorite hats. I don't know if you guys have the hats for the Cobblers quite yet that, that they're gonna wear on the field, maybe a favorite MOB team. Any, uh, specific hat you wouldn't mind describing for us? Yeah. I would say, I mean, our team's hat, what I'm most excited about it is, is, you know, obviously, if you're from Texas, you, you, you know there isn't a Pear Cobbler. so that was a new thing, uh, coming in and understanding what the brand was. But, I really like our hat because not only are we in Pear land, and we represent the pear and, and, and the P across our, our chest, I mean, you know, baseball runs deep, especially in, in Pearland, if you know of Little League and high schools around the area. so yeah, I'm most excited about our hat because it shows what we, what we're able to represent, shows what we've built here so far and what we're gonna build for the future. I love it, yeah. When this episode, it comes out, it'll be a few weeks, but if you happen to have, like, a, picture of it or anything, we'd love to kind of share it so everybody can kind of get a feel, since we're big on hats here on the podcast. Mr. Bolin, what do you have today, sir? course, this was inspired by you. I think this is the second appearance of this hat. the collab that the Wind Surge did with the, uh, universities in the great state of Kansas. This was a Christmas present from the CEO of Bolin Enterprises. This is a collab Birmingham Barons and those UAB Blazers, and I absolutely love it. I haven't been to a UAB sporting event since I received this hat, but this, if I do get to something someday, somewhere, this is the go-to blazer hat. Now, even though technically it's a Birmingham Barons hat. Yeah, I love that Wichita, here the Wind Surge did that. So yeah, they have a KU K-State and Wichita State, and looks just like your hat there, Johnny, where it's got the, Wind S- Wind Surge logo on it, but the color of the Wind Surge logo is whatever university, and then it has on the side, uh, like a Jayhawk, Wushok, or Wildcat on it. So yeah, it's fun when they do, any of the kinda state schools, they do any collaborations, and I've seen some other teams do kinda something similar. So yeah, really sharp looking UAB, Birmingham Barons hat that you got there today. I thought of you the other day. Did you see the 10 caps Notre Dame hat? I did, but did you see the El Paso, Texas El Paso Chihuahuas Notre Dame hat or T-shirt? No. No, I ha- that's kind of an interesting mix, isn't it? I, I don't understand it, but I love the El Paso Chihuahuas 'cause, uh, one of the main logos they do besides the Chihuahua is the EP, and those are my initials. Hm. So I have the, a couple EP hats. But yeah, they came out within the last couple weeks. Uh, it's just the Chihuahua dog on the front, but then has the Notre Dame logo on the side. I have no idea the connection, how South Bend, Indiana connects with El Paso, Texas. But since I love minor league baseball, I love El Paso, and then obviously Notre Dame. didn't get the hat. by the time you tacked on shipping and everything, it's, uh, extremely steep. We'll just say upper 70s, for a hat. Is a little too high for me, at least right now, but I did get the T-shirt. So it's got the big Chihuahua logo on it, and then has the Notre Dame, clover on the side with the ND. So I did get the shirt in, and then of course the Chihuahua has the Notre Dame color. So still don't understand it, but I had to go and get that shirt for sure. Yeah, I thought of you the other day when they released the Indiana, Notre Dame, and Purdue. All three of their, those, those hats look fantastic. I would wear the Purdue one c- for the great Drew Brees. That would be the only My love of Drew Brees, uh, knows no boundaries. For sure. Well, I did see the South Bend Cubs obviously did a Notre Dame hat, and that makes more sense that their minor league team right there in South Bend did a little collab. myself though, I have, it's an all red, Havana Sugar Kings hat. So Johnny, I know you're pretty fond of the Sugar Kings. it was, Hat Club maybe. I can't remember who I got this hat from, but yeah, it's all red and then has the kinda the old school Sugar Kings logo on it. So yeah, today I have the Havana, Cuba Sugar Kings. And that's very smart of you, sir. I see what you're doing here. Cobbler Sugar? Come on. I'm not that smart. I didn't put those together. I thought Sugar and Cobbler, you know, Sugar Kings, I thought, wow, Eric is really kinda I mean, what a way to honor the guest in a very subtle way. There we go. Uh, yeah, I, I love that. I've got that, uh, logo on a T-shirt I got a couple years ago for Christmas. Love, yeah, absolutely love the old, uh, Havana Sugar Kings. Well, I did wanna get a little background then. So is this, the Cobblers, is this your guys' first year? Correct. So all 13 teams in the Cowboy Collegiate League were all brand new. Okay. So, they've expanded across Tennessee, Florida, and then Texas this year. Texas is really exciting for them just because Texas being big in baseball, um, it's It is one of their You have the Old North State League, which has been with the Players League for a long time, and then their second biggest league now is, is the Texas League or the Cowboy Collegiate League. So prior then obviously to becoming the GM in Pearland, do you have, uh, any other background in baseball, or kinda what's a little bit, what led you to being able to come- become the GM now for the Cobblers? Yeah, so growing up, you know, I was born in, um, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. my dad moved back to moved to Wisconsin, uh, when he accepted a coaching job, um, in Wisconsin, and then we moved back in 2010. Um, during that time he coached, football and baseball. while we were there, I got a full aspect of what coaching was like. And, you know, when we moved back to Texas, you know, uh, being able to see my grandfathers, my dad coach, grow up to be a coach, that's where I kind of had my passion for coaching. So I, I started out in the youth league, so I was coaching baseball, football at the youth level here in Pearland. And then right out of high school, I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna, I wanna play college football." didn't end up doing it, you know. And then during that time, you know, one thing about private school, especially in Texas, is you don't have to have a certification to teach at a private school, meaning you can be a stipend coach. So I started out at a school, a 4A school, Westbury Christian School In Houston, Texas, where I coached just football for the fall, and then when I went on to Bryan, uh, Allen Academy up in Bryan-College Station, right there is where I kind of started getting involved in both football and baseball. Being a small school, like a 1A school, I was doing football, soccer, and baseball. Soccer was completely brand new. and then I got involved with the Marucci Elite Texas organization, where I'm still continuously in there for the past probably five years now, going on five years, and within that organization is where I kind of fell in love with my passion for baseball. Coach Adrian Adams, who I've been under during my time at Allen Academy, uh, I coach with him in the summer as well for baseball, where we've sent over 13 athletes to, either Division I schools or, junior colleges here in Texas. So amongst all that, I am now currently the head football coach and program head at Divine Savior Academy in Missouri City, Texas. So that's kind of what I do on, on a full-time basis, and then outside of that, I've, I've been involved in a lot of coaching development, so coaching coaches. So I own, three businesses called the Texas Coaches Collective, which has, um, six-man football underneath the Texas Coaches Collective, so it's a six-man football clinic, and then I also own the private school coaches clinic, where we provide professional development for coaches across the state of Texas, across the United States. We've had people from Montana to Washington, coming to all of our clinics on top of that. And then, you know, when I saw Pearland was bringing in a summer collegiate league, knowing a lot of, uh, baseball athletes, being involved in the recruiting process as a coach and helping kids get recruited, and also being, having a little bit of experience on the other end and being knowledgeable in the recruiting process, that's kind of where I fell in love for summer baseball. Um, you know, when they, when we had the opportunity now to bring baseball to Pearland, creating that minor league style experience of summer league baseball, I'm super excited. So that's kind of my background, that's kind of my history of like, of how I ended up being here today and, you know, I'm super excited as we, we get ready to kick off the season. For sure. Well, Johnny, what I gathered from all that is that, he's not busy at all and has plenty of time to do like a three-hour podcast with us tonight. I was like, man, do you do taxes on the side? I... Well, that is amazing. Well, so Johnny knows what question I'm going to ask. So if you coach football, obviously you probably like football. Being from Wisconsin, do you happen to be a Packers guy? I am, for sure. 100%. Me too. 100%. I am too, so we could talk all night about the Packers. I just wanted to check on that, and then you had mentioned Missouri City. Is that kind of right outside or near Sugar Land? Correct, correct. So I live in Pearland. Okay. Um, Missouri City is kind of that Fort Bend area, which is literally 20 minutes away. It's, it's right outside. So I've been to, now I've gone to both obviously MLB teams, Houston and, in Arlington- Mm-hmm and then all the minor league affiliated, and we did a trip to finish off all the Texas minor league teams a few years ago, and I stopped at, I don't remember the brewery's name, but there was one in Missouri City that we- Yeah stopped at a brewery there. And, uh, so I was like kind of a little bit familiar with it, and did get to see the Sugar Land Space Cowboys- Mm-hmm and obviously saw, like, the Houston Astros and everything. So, where this year, are the Cobblers gonna be playing? We're gonna be playing at Veterans Sports Complex, off of Bailey Road right here in Pearland, Texas, which is kind of the heart of Pearland. It's literally two miles away from the local high school, Pearland High School, literally half a mile away from the career and technical school, and like four miles away from our other high school within Pearland. So we're kind of centrally located right here in Pearland. Awesome. Well, appreciate you sharing that. Um, now obviously being the first year here, you obviously don't know a whole lot yet about the league, but just tell us a little more if you can about the Cowboy Collegiate League and what you're excited about being in the league itself. I'm super excited. You know, one thing that I, that I've learned throughout this process is there's strong ownership. right now all 13 teams are not privately owned. one of them are privately owned, which is Galveston. I'm in the process of, you know, exploring about potentially, being the owner of the Pearland team. Um, that's kind of in the works, and we're kind of just having a lot of preliminary discussions behind it. But, the All Red, group with the Players League have just done a phenomenal job, the communication to behind the scenes to, dealing with right now we have management services that kind of control, like, our marketing and making sure that we're, we're aligned. And there's a lot of like, I would say, a lot of guidance there, especially for somebody who is... you know, I've been involved, I've been happy to be involved in sports operations and athletics, so nothing really new to me other than, putting on a show for basically 500 to 700 fans. Um, that's probably the only thing for me. I've been in small schools, which is, is not much different. You know, I'm still doing the same way. right now we have the biggest staff. You know, our roster's filled. our marketing group is amazing on social media. we just finalized our staff of 16, so, um, that consists of, operations to front office to sales to, Revenue coordinators, things like that. And that's where I think what makes us as going to be successful is, you know, our stability and organizational structure. Pearland is known for baseball. So if you've, if you know in Pearland, you have a little league that welcomes 1,200 people every year to opening day. and then you have Pearland High School, which got off of basically two state runs back to back, and then Dawson High School, which has multiple, playoff appearances, and then a little bit further, Shadow Creek High School, still in Pearland, but part of Alvin ISD. they're a pretty, pretty strong staple in baseball as well. So, super excited. That's kind of like, you know, the Cowboy Collegiate League right now, we have two teams that are, in the south, we have two teams that are capped out at 40. and then we have some teams like Conroe, Baytown, and Texas City that are still filling. My first question, what's the origin of the nickname? I would say, you know, when they were putting branding together, you know, I was asking I was actually asking our management services, guy about this. I was like, "What, what's the brand? Like, why, why the Cobblers?" Or, you know, Waco, one that's really cool to me is it's the Waco Wooly Wranglers, so it's like a wrangler on top of a wooly mammoth. But I asked him, like, "What is the branding behind it?" And he's like, "You know, some teams seem a little bit too serious. our branding department was going for something that was, interesting, you know, thinking of characters or, or, or just something different. Um, and when they think of Pearland," we honestly don't know how the Cobblers came about. what we've kind of done with it so far with the brand is we've embraced it. the pear, it's located all ar- you can go int- all the way around the city of Pearland and you'll see pear statues all throughout the city. So we've emb- embraced the Pearland Cobblers. You know, our colors represent our city. and you know, one of the mottos that we've put together for, as an organization is called Built in Pearland. that's kind of a hashtag that we've started using that basically says, look, like, every person we bring in, we're gonna have a roster of local players. so we are gonna have some of those players that are, are a little bit distant, but I would say our core roster is local. You know, we wanna, we wanna target local players and represent Pearland, and when they show up on the field, they know what they're wearing across their chest. and that's kind of what we, how we've, we've embraced that, that brand of the Pearland Cobblers. Will there be cobbler at the concession stand? We're working on it. We're working on it. you know, one thing about it is our immediate, our immediate staff, you know, like my assistant GM, hospitality, and ballpark operations, we're all fairly close, so they work within what you see, like my private school coaches clinic. they work within that organization. So we work really well together, and I'm happy that I was able to bring them on, with this new journey f- with me. And, you know, I'd mentioned that to him as like, he's like, "There is a pear cobbler." so it might be in the works for maybe a game or two doing a special with it or, we're still working through the logistics on that. I, I imagine if you went to any Methodist Church, you'd find older ladies making cobbler who maybe just- For sure sign a contract, you know? Okay, we need a peach, apple, pear, and blackberry for Thursday night, right? Or, the senior adult ladies of the local Methodist Church to supply the, the cobbler. What's your favorite flavor of cobbler? Are you a cobbler guy? I love cobbler. You can tell I, I'm a cobbler guy. I'm a, I'm a traditional, you know, I'm a, I'm a peach cobbler, so, you know, they have it out at the rodeo, Texas Rodeo, and we're... I go out there, I was out there a ton of times this year, and I can't tell you how many, how many different cobblers I tasted. And I'm more traditional to peach cobbler. Yeah, that you, you can't go wrong. We, place that we ate lunch at Sunday, lady comes to the table and says, "Hey, we got some dessert. do you want banana pudding or peach cobbler?" And I'm like, that's two heavyweights right in front of me. it doesn't get any better than good homemade banana pudding and good homemade peach cobbler, right? You know, like- tough decision I just looked at my wife, she said, "I'll surprise you. I'll go get you one." You know, 'cause you can't lose, right, you know, with either one. cobbler was, w- was delicious. you mentioned about your, your career in coaching. Who are some coaching role models of yours, uh, that you look up to or may model or have read about or have learned from maybe directly, indirectly in your career? I always revert back and, you know, I've learned the most what to do, what not to do by having, both grandfathers coach, and my father coach. I've learned a lot from, you know, one thing that, you know- I'm a, I'm a younger guy, I'm 23 years old, but I'm a very old school coach. You know, both my dad But my dad was a, a old school coach, my grandfathers were old school coaches. I take very highly in a lot of those values. But now you're, you are in the current age where you have to kinda adapt to some things. another guy I would say, or, or a couple people would be Coach Adrian Adams. He's kinda like my mentor now. You know, I've, I was underneath him for four years. this is the only year that we haven't been un- I haven't been underneath him. and I call him almost every other day and just get advice. You know, what i- how do I handle this situation? What could I have done differently in this situation? cause you're, you're never too old to learn, you know, and that's kinda what I take from it. And, high school coaches I would say, like Coach Call and Coach Kenny, Coach Lawrence, those, those three were both my, all three of my offensive line coaches. They instilled a lot of that, like, mental fortitude, that mental toughness and, you know, dealing with situations. You know, most people when, when they see conflict or they're a part of conflict, they wanna shy away or, or put it away. But no, how do we work through the conflict and, a- a- and find common ground to where we can solve a problem? And that's kinda how, how I bring my organizational leadership to our staff, is I'm the same way. Like I'm, I'm gonna be transparent with you, I'm gonna be up front. I'm not gonna sugarcoat nothing. Um, I'm gonna tell you how the cow ate the cabbage. I mean, I'm that, I'm just that kinda person, when dealing with, when dealing with people and, you know, being, being up front and real with them. Oh, that's, that's great. I'm gonna ask, and Eric knows this question's coming. It is, it is, well I knew his Green Bay Packer question was coming. Uh, this is my go-to, and we've got some really amazing answers on this. This is my go-to question for general managers, team owners. So here's the question, if money's no object and they said, "Hey, you got unlimited funds to do a one night promotion for the team," what would the promotion be? I would say, Ooh, that's a tough one. I'm very much like this isn't a very, you know, money ain't a problem. I'm a very community person. I lo- like- You could do it with a little money or the most money, community night. and that's just, like, I instill that across, like, not only this baseball organization, but even my own football program is I like seeing the community involved. You know, at the end of the day, like, this experience that we're putting on is for them, you know? Not only are we putting it together a roster to play good baseball, but at the end of the day, this community, this Pearland community that we're putting this baseball team at the forefront of, we want them to be at the forefront right there as well, you know? We wanna celebrate it with them, you know? Fan- like, one thing we're doing is fan zones and, you know, bringing people out to the park in bi- in big groups, VIP experiences, meet and greets, being out in the community at the local, even the, like, the local marathons or the local 5Ks, our tent's out there. it's like, it's not something that, like, I could say, "Oh, you know, I wanna do a, a superhero night," or something like that, you know? I'm just a very real person and, you know, community is always gonna be right there with me because, you know, without a community or people backing you, you're not gonna be a successful organization. Yeah, very true. And, this is, this is a statement, not a question. I do my research by going on the online store. Fantastic logo, great colors. Y'all guys, you guys just knocked it out of the park. Uh, it, it's a fun logo. It very much stands out i, in the Cowboy Collegiate League. like you had mentioned a few moments ago, it's fun. Mm-hmm. So it's fun, you know, kind of the angry pear swinging a bat. So like the colors, really cool. You, you guys did a great job. Yeah, appreciate it. And that's, like I said, you know, not only are we, we here to put on a fantastic experience for the community, but we also want our players to have fun as well. Like, we want, you know, for example, like, our transportation partner is Pearland Texas Party Bus. So when we're in away games, our, our team is traveling in a party bus to our field location wherever we're playing on the away game. And you know, that, that's kind of what the experience that we wanna have with our players is not only are we gonna compete well on the field, but also, like, we want them to have a good summer ball experience. We don't want it to be like a grueling spring season. Because at the end of the day, they're all here to get better, you know? Right. They're all here to get better, and we're, we wanna send them back to their college program where they can go and, and compete at a high level. Yeah. I, I, I think we need more fun in the world. I, that's one of my, you know, lighthearted, just something fun. Of course, you're talking to a man that many days has an alligator with a tongue hanging out and a Mardi Gras mask on his head- for his body, right, uh, on a regular basis as, as super fan, right? So I, you know, 'cause it's just fun. It's just, you know, we, we need more fun, lighthearted, in life, you know? And I, it's, uh, ex- so excited for this league and, uh, you guys starting up this season. Yeah, appreciate it. Like I said, I, I'm, I'm looking forward to it. I'm a, I'm a, I'm super excited. Well, Johnny, sometimes the, titles of the episode write themselves, so I believe, what'd you say, that cow ate the cabbage? Is that the- Hello is that the saying you said earlier? Maybe we can use that- That- as the title of the episode. Sometimes it just writes itself. I, you know, I stole the line, uh, have you ever seen the 30 for 30 about SMU from the coach that kinda got them in all the trouble and left? Mm-hmm. I use this all the time, Don't tell me about the labor, show me the baby." That's true. That's true. well, Nicona, we, uh, do a segment, called The Profit and The Loss, and the profit's something you gain or earn. That could be your time now getting to be the GM of the Cobblers or any specific, uh, moment you can think of. I would say being able to finalize our staff yesterday. that is our biggest profit. not only are we the first team to do it in our league, but for us to have seven, uh, close to c- I would say close to 16, 17 staff members, that's from, like, our partnership with the University of Houston and their sports administration program, to have unpaid interns, to have operational staff, to have front office staff, I mean, that is our biggest profit right there. And, and I'm so excited because it's different pers- personalities. We have different backgrounds. You know, we have a coaching staff of somebody who has college and high school experience, both of our coaches do actually, and are both veterans of the game. You know, we don't have younger coaches. Our coaches are, have families and, you know, they're, they're experienced coaches, and they're super excited. And, and both of these guys watched me play baseball growing up, and I didn't even know they were gonna be our coaching staff when I got hired. And I, I got the phone call, it was like, "Oh yeah, Coach Birkelbach and Coach Joyner." I was like, "What?" And then yeah, it turned into, like, it's, we've, we've had an amazing ride so far, and the season hasn't even started, and we've, we've been going since probably late March. And like I said, that is our biggest profit so far is that we have a strong staff behind this organization. I love it. Appreciate you sharing that. How about the flip side, the loss? Would it be that Green Bay's only had one Super Bowl in the last 15 years and couldn't quite get it done with Rodgers outside of 2010, 2011? Oh, I'm just kidding. any specific loss you can think of? Yeah, I mean, I got two of them. You know, the, the loss is that, there isn't gonna be one for, for the Cobblers. and that's kind of my model behind it is this thing is not gonna fail. this ship isn't gonna sink. One, because we got a strong group that's gonna keep this thing afloat. We got a strong group that's gonna take this thing to the next level. and then my second loss would be when, Prince Fielder left the Brewers. Um, you know- Mm. Yeah Prince Fielder by far i- is, is my favorite baseball player. Now, I've, I've slowly acclimated into being an Astros fan just because I've lived in Texas longer than, uh, Wisconsin, but when Prince Fielder left the Brewers, oh man, it, it broke my heart. Yep, for sure. Well, uh, appreciate you sharing both of those with us. And if anybody wanted to go on, go to the website, do you have the, your guys' website handy you could share? For sure. It's www.pearlandcobblers.com. And right now on our website you can see kind of our, our social links. Follow us on social media. Um, that's the biggest thing. You know, all of our staff is pretty, pretty good about being in, in, up to date with their own social medias. So we're trying to promote this thing and, you know, you can see all of our information from our staff to the roster, and everything's right there on our website. I love it. Yeah, make sure you guys go out there, follow the Cobblers on social media as well. And make sure you guys follow us. We're Earn Fun Average, Average is AVG. We're on Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky and Threads. Dakota, one more time, really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time today. I thank both of y'all. I appreciate you guys for having me on. America, lower your standards. It's what you guys do best.