Meet New Head Coach David S. Calloway

It's a brand new season and after a long hiatus from the bunker and lots of changes for Warrior Football since November, Troy and Andy knock off the rust and get back to business with a great conversation with new Head Coach David S. Calloway.

Calloway has more than 25 years of football experience at the collegiate level. He has a proven record of coaching teams to a winning season and recruiting student-athletes who succeed on the field, in the classroom, and in the community. Most recently, Coach Calloway served as associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Missouri Valley College. He led and oversaw all defensive football operations and personnel development and recruited top-tier student athletes across the country.

At the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Calloway worked as the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach from 2023-2025. He developed game strategies that increased defensive performance metrics, built recruitment pipelines, and oversaw academic success programs.

Coach Calloway led the Central Methodist University football team as head coach from 2015-2023. There, he managed full football program operations, including budget, recruitment, compliance, and media relations. He also built and lead a diverse team of assistant coaches and staff while overseeing student-athlete success both on and off the field. He took what started as a less than .500 team to a winning program in just a few years. Most notably, Coach Calloway led the 2021 Central Methodist Football Team to a 9-2 season, finishing 5-0 in the conference and #1 in the Heart of America. Central Methodist met Northwestern College (IA), fellow GPAC opponent, in the first round of playoffs. Northwestern would move on to lose in the semifinal round to another GPAC opponent, Morningside University.

At Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Coach Calloway served as Head Football Coach from 2012-2014 while supervising athletic training and managing team logistics and community-facing initiatives. Before that, from 2007-2012, he was the team’s defensive coordinator. The 2010 and 2011 teams made NCAA Division II playoff appearances. Coach Calloway has also served as assistant coach and defensive coordinator at various other institutions, including Langston University and Hastings College. As a player at Langston University, he was a four-year starter and 2x Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference champions. He was Langston’s Defensive Player of the Year and earned NAIA All-American First Team.

Coach Calloway’s core principles are accountability, dependability, energy, effort, and passion. His program building centers around these pillars: Protect the Brand, Become Family, and Respect the Game. His vision for his programs is to create a culture that will promote accountability and dependability that will give student athletes the opportunity to achieve at the highest level in the classroom, on the field, and in the community.

To contribute to the new turf field fundraising effort underway by the Gridiron Club, simply follow this link to https://waldorfgridironclub.org/donate/

Forever and always, GO WARRIORS!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Welcome back to this episode of the Waldorf Gridiron Club Podcast. Troy's been a minute. Like what, four months, did we say? Something like that? November?

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Yeah, no, I mean November 14th, maybe, or something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

There you go. That's right. Yeah, my birthday, November 14th. Uh, 56 years old now. So yeah, I'm uh almost 56 and a half.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Yeah, that's how long the time has been. We had a great uh we had a big break there. No, no, no particular reason. I mean, our listeners and our viewers know that we just sometimes do, you know, take long breaks. We do. Of course, there was the Thanksgiving Christmas gigantic Waldorf break that starts just before Thanksgiving and ends, you know, like middle of January. And so we uh we went through that, but there was also a lot of changes that have happened. We've got a lot to talk about, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 1:26

We do. We do. We got yeah, obviously um folks know that uh that Coach Chapa, um the head co former head coach uh at Waldorf, uh, went uh San Diego. San Diego. San Diego, and you know what he's doing there? He's a recruiter for a college. Is that right? It's like an architectural school or something like that. So one thing that like it's not that he didn't love recruiting. I mean, because you we'll find out here in a minute with our guest how much recruiting is just fun. Yes, but it's part of the game, so anyway, that's what he's doing now in San Diego.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

There's so much Andy, there's so much I don't know. Like our like our listeners, our watch, our viewers, we haven't had a show since the middle of November. So much has changed, and we don't know, we don't we don't know what's going on. So now this is the episode that we get to find out what is going on and meet uh well, meet the new head coach. Yeah, the big man who's been been here for like three months.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

So, like, you know, but let's do it, let's introduce him. Absolutely. So we are more than thrilled um to have with us, and you folks should be too, because uh Troy and I have gotten to know this man a little bit. But uh the man, the myth, the legend, coach David Callaway. Welcome, coach.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Hey, thanks for having me, man. I'm so pumped to be here, man. You guys, you don't know how I'm juiced right now.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Well, it's it's it's great to have you on the show and and and to finally get to that spot again. This, by the way, is the beginning of our our new season. We'll just we we had such a long break. We'll call it a new season. Yeah, might as well. I don't know if it's season five. Yeah, it might be. It might be season five. I think it is. So season five, first episode, Coach David Callaway.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Cool. So, coach.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yes indeed.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What does everybody need to know about David Callaway?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Uh, the main thing is that uh I've been coaching college football just going to my 27th year. Uh started out right out of college. You know, played at Langston University for four years as a starter, was an all-American there. Uh, just recently went in the Hall of Fame there uh this past October uh from Idlebell, Oklahoma originally. And I'm telling you, if you're listening right now, Warrior Football Land, you've met somebody from Idlebell, Oklahoma, you will meet another person from Idobell, Oklahoma. Moving forward in life. You'll be I met somebody from Idobell before. So that's one unique thing about me, Idlebell, Oklahoma. We call it Idobell, USA, because you're an hour from Louisiana, an hour from Arkansas, an hour from Texas, and then you're in Oklahoma. Wow. So you're right there in the southeast corner of that little area, uh, small town, uh, but just kind of like Fort City, just a worker's mentality, you know, uh, not much bigger, one red light town, you know. So uh Fort City feels home to me. Uh I'm excited about being here. I can tell you what you need to know about me that I'm gonna put on for Fort City.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

That's right. That's right. I like to hear that.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah, I'm in.

SPEAKER_03 4:18

Oh, I thought you were gonna go. It's on you.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

You've got the red light on. Yeah, no, um uh Coach Cattle out of practice. Oh, this is terrible. We used to do this. I'm sorry every week do this. Yeah, we used to do this.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Rust off. Yeah, exactly. It's like coming back coming, hopefully not coming back from summer workouts for the you know, coming into football camps. This is what I did. No, no. It's like can you imagine if that's the result of the book? It's coming off spring break. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Something like that. Well, coach, obviously it's great to have you here. Um, we're super excited um about the direction of Waldorf football. Um, we had the opportunity as a gridiron club to to go out and have dinner with you um one night. Uh, well, I don't know, what was that, six, eight months ago? Uh January. It was in January, so a couple months yet, but still. Um so yeah, we got to know a little bit about you. But what I'm excited about is for um for the Warrior Nation to listen to a little bit about um some of the things that are important to you as the new hitman um for Waldorf football. So if you could go into a little bit about some of your philosophy, I know that you boil it down because you've been around long enough. But uh yeah, tell some of our folks, you know, how uh how you like to run things.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Well, we're running in phases, you know, and right now we just started or completed phase one. Uh phase one for us is what we call win. And what that stands for is what's important now. Uh and for us, we feel what's gonna be important is attacking things the right way off the field. So the first thing is understanding the importance of branding, protecting the brand of Waldorf University, Waldorf football, uh, your family name, and the way you go about protecting that brand, we feel is important is understanding the importance of image. If you're gonna be a part of our program, you need to understand you're gonna look a certain way. And what we mean by a certain way, you don't have to wear a suit every day, we're not saying that, but you need to look like what you are. That's a college athlete. You know, if we see you on campus during the day, and we say during the day, Monday through Friday, business hours eight to five, you need to look like a student. You need to have tennis shoes on, boots on, you know, we don't wear slides, uh, crocs, hey dudes, anything with an open toe, open heel, uh, pajama pants, tank tops. You know, you can wear a hoodie outside in the weather, headphones, but when you're in a classroom, you need to take that stuff off your head, sit in the first three rows. Uh, and one thing that's really important to me is uh you gotta put that cell phone down. You know, you get in these classrooms, you know, you're there to be engaged in the classroom. And what I do is the first part of branding, I feel is important. I eat in the cafeteria with these guys, so they gotta see me to understand. I walk around campus, you know. So I'm not, we're not just gonna tell you, hey, you gotta do this, and we're not gonna follow up with you. And it's not a point of, oh, we got you. It's not that. It's a point of, and you guys are athletes, former players, been in professional settings. At the end of the day, when you're working on a team, it's about accountability. And much as you do your job or get a chance to do your job, you can't get enough reps at accountability. You know, it has to be to the point like I ask the guys all the time, what's the first thing you do in the morning when you get up? Most of the majority, well, brush my teeth. Okay, you're 24 years old. You probably learn to brush your teeth at six. You're brushing your teeth 365 days a year. You're getting reps at that because it's accountability and it's a thankless deal. So the importance of looking a certain way on campus is to build reps that we can trust you from an accountability standpoint when we're not around. You know, it's easy to wear shoes over in our building because you're trying to impress the coaches. But what are you gonna do on your time? You know, can we so now it's telling me if I see you dressed up and you don't see me. Now I can say, okay, I can depend on this guy, is studying his playbook when he's not in meetings, that he's doing the right thing when the wrong thing presents itself. Now I can trust you on third and seven, and you're a receiver and a route supposed to break off at 10 to 12, you're not breaking it off at six. Right? Now on the other side of that, if I see you on campus, you in pajama pants, you in slides, now I'm saying, okay, I don't know if I can trust this guy. Right? So that's the importance of protecting a brand from that standpoint. Then the next phase of that is understanding that you gotta have pride in where you are. You know, I've worked at multiple campuses. This is my eighth job. I got some Kobe Bryant shoes. I got Kobe Bryant shoes that when he was on Adidas, and people don't even remember when he was on Adidas. Right? But my point being is I got some Ant-Man shoes. You know, I got all this other Nike stuff. We don't work or go to school at those schools. So in essence, we don't go to Iowa State. I say they're not a good program, not a good university. I bet a dollar, my dollar to your hundred dollars, you're not gonna see a lot of people walking around Ames Isle in a Waldorf University shirt on their campus.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

They should be.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

They should be, but they're not. Right, right. But you're not gonna do it on our campus. Understand. That's that's what I'm getting at. Like, we're gonna protect our brand. We if we don't have pride in Warrior Nation, then how can we expect other people?

SPEAKER_03 9:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

That's what I mean by protecting the brand.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

I love it. I I mean, look, Andy's laughing at me because like he's looking at with the shoe situation. We've had conversations on this podcast in previous seasons. I love it. Like, we're not wearing slides, we're not wearing that. I'm like, yeah, yeah, proper footwear is important. This old army guy talking like, how can you possibly do anything useful when you're wearing flip-flops?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Exactly. And and I got the same thing. I again out a player, and one thing I try to pride myself on as a coach too, is if I can't tell these kids why we're doing something, then we probably shouldn't be doing it. Right. So when I say why, say, I had to I'm like, why we gotta wear flip-flops on the bus? And Coach Tim, well, if we have a bus wreck, then how are you gonna protect yourself? If you want some slides, you don't have a lace up shoe, then a bus turnover, something like that. Exactly right. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 10:29

That's that's exactly Andy, that's what we're saying resonates with me. Yeah, you know. Absolutely. Yeah. Because it's one of those things, like one of the I uh the sheriff that one of the sheriffs that I work for or with, and um like I'll be going to a meeting and he'll be like, you know, that's gonna be kind of tenuous. And I said, Yeah, I know, these guys are not happy with me. And it's always like, wear the right shoes. Yeah, gotta have the right shoes. You gotta wear your fighting shoes if you're gonna fight. Starts from the boots up, yeah. That's right. It does. So I gotta have boots on now.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Exactly. So that's the first phase is protecting the brand. The second phase of what's important now is relationships matter. And we say relationships, we're not talking with us as coaches. You're gonna have a relationship with us as coaches. You're gonna have a relationship with your teammates, because they're all for football. We are for that. Yeah, we're talking across campus. You know, be engaged with your teacher, sit in the first three rows, get involved in the class discussion, be a part of what's going on, not just sitting there trying to get through something. Um going to career services. You know, I met with all our guys because it's important. I met with them one by one the first four days on campus. So it wouldn't be any hesitation on say, this is how we're gonna go about our business. You know, and that's important building relationships because with the career center is important because a lot of guys are get to their last semester and go over there, hey, I need a job. And the career center, I hadn't seen you in three years. Then you give us a bad survey because you just not showing up and we're not helping you. But you if I don't know you want to go to grad school, then how can I help you go to grad school?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

If I don't know you want to get into this profession, how can I help you? So, and what I tell them, I say you go over there, meet with them. And when you meet one, you come back and let me know what y'all discussed. You know, because majority of them don't even know where they're located. And that's not just here, that's on every campus.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Because it had, they don't realize the importance of that.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Because you know, they all, well, I'm gonna go play football. Well, we're not gonna go play football. There's 1% that's gonna do that.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

This is true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

You know, so and and you just relationships matter because they matter because conversations gotta be honest.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

You know, it's not nothing wrong with not being a football player. It's a whole bunch of ways to be successful. You know what I'm saying? And it's trying to open their eyes to that stuff on relationships with professors, with the community. Um, and I'm so proud because the first thing that we got asked was by the music department to have host for their last event, which is like their Super Bowl this past Thursday, and they wanted six or seven football guys. They said they hadn't ever done that before, to have football host that. So that was awesome. You know, to get us engaged on campus. Now, hopefully the weather's gonna change, we can get a little bit more engaged in the community, kind of as we move forward. So that's the second part of what's important now. And the third part is respect in the game. When I say respect in the game, that's getting to know your coaches. No, not just come by when it's required. Um, asking why in the meetings. Because the biggest thing with football players that I found, and it's everybody like nobody wants to be embarrassed. So, and you guys been around athletics and different things, and somebody ended up saying, Hey, what's this? Everybody say, You know what this is? Yeah, I know it. Then as soon as you ask them, well, what's this concept? Okay, that's fine. Who else doesn't know it? Then hands go up.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Well, that's okay, because that's what we're here for. Because if you tell me you don't know, that's our job to give your understanding. But if you say you know, then it's our job for me to sit on the fat of your neck at that point. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I got to bite you because you said you knew what you're supposed to do, then you didn't go out to execute. You know, so those three things are important to us protecting the brand, building relationships, respecting the game.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

And that's so important. You know, you look at a lot of these, you know, coaches at any level, and they'll tell like the the ones that have pretty decent success are ones that say, yeah, you know, you gotta know the game, you gotta know the X's and O's. That's great. But at the end of the day, as a coach, you need to be a teacher.

unknown 14:24

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

You know, you need to be able to take what's in that brain, that football mind, and translate that into getting the young men to perform. Correct. You know, and that's kind of and so so I know you brought in um you brought in an associate head coach. Tell us a little about him. We probably we'll have to have him out next. Yeah, we will.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yep, uh, Coach Jermaine Gales. Uh I knew Coach Gales when I was the head coach at Central Methodist. He was the head in Missouri, he's the head coach at Lincoln University at the time.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

And we tried to get set up to play uh a couple of years, but never kind of worked out schedule-wise. So then he moved on from Lincoln and I moved on from a Central Methodist, and we end up coaching against each other in the same conference. When I was at Arkansas Pine Bluff, and he was at Alcorn.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

And then when I got this position, you know, he had some things uh where he wanted to obviously change his situation, and we just communicated and we had a mutual, not a mutual kid, he had a kid that played for him that GA'd for us at Pine Bluff. And was a great person named Omar, and he kind of put us in contact during before all this came about. Right. And, you know, I knew what he brought from an offensive standpoint from competing against him. You know, so I know it's some things that he can do. And with me being a defensive guy, we've had the most success when I can have an offensive coordinator that has a head coach mentality. And what I mean by that, I'm not having to oversee what they're doing practice-wise on the practice field. I can just focus on what we're doing defense and then get with those guys in meetings. You know, because I know how it's gonna be conducted, I know how it's gonna be ran, I know how it's gonna be structured. Um, you know, we're looking to now he's gonna call the offense, he's gonna do all that, but we're gonna push the ball vertical. Yeah. Six dig long balls.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

That's exciting to hear. I can't wait. Yeah, we've been hearing that a few years, that you know, because we'd have these vertical threats, you know, we'd bring in these dudes that were just like, wow, these guys, they really got they got some stuff. And then um, for whatever reason, we're throwing all that mid-game you know, through the middle trying to find gaps and stuff like that, which is fine. It works.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

I mean, there's a place for it, but I grew up like in the Raiders and Al Davis.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

So you know they saw the Raiders think on your phone. I was you know, and I would I would say that I that that wasn't a great thing, but you know, an Iowan just became the highest paid center in NFL history. Um the uh he played for the Ravens. Uh just oh, this is terrible. We got the Hawkeyes, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, he just uh he just signed the biggest biggest deal for us yeah with Raiders. Um yeah, and I cannot. Tyler Lindebaum. There you go. Yeah, Tyler Lindebaum. Yeah, he'd come up with that. Yeah, so maybe the Raiders are gonna be able to do something.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

I don't know about I won't go that far. No, I'm a I'm a true fan. I've been a fan since 83. So I, you know, just it's just something about the Silver Black.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Yeah, no, too. Al Davis was just kind of that cool looking cat. I mean, he's just slick back hair and the sunglasses, always had his sunglasses on, and yeah, you just gotta respect that. And then you see his son thinking, what did the mother look like? That's a terrible thing to say, and but yeah, Mark Davis has got a lot of money, but you know, he's he's got a haircut that I mean. Oh, that's that's saying a lot, coach.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Well, I ain't got a lot to talk about on the haircut part.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Oh, you and Troy got something in common. You know that.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

We'll throw the ball.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

That's awesome. That's that's gonna be exciting.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

We're gonna try to, and it we'll do what we need to do to win games. Yeah, you know, so but we're excited uh about the direction we're going. You know, those guys have been needing heavy, kids are picking it up, concepts, and our quarterbacks, I mean, those dies are Jim Ratch, Chris and Jackson. They I'm thinking they coach as much as they've been in the office, which is a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

That's gonna be that's gonna be quite an interesting time.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Well, that's a good question. I mean, I mean for even the spring. People want to, you know, like we had obviously we had injuries in our quarterback core uh last year, and that caused problems, you know, on top of any other problems that we might were having, you know. And so it's so that's something too. You you got confidence in the quarterbacks that you've got and then um and how and how that's how's that looking? Like you uh your quarterback I don't even know who's in the quarterback. There's so much I don't know, uh all you know, because I don't know what personnel have changed and and all that stuff. I don't know even the right way to maybe s start talking about it. I guess let's talk talk about numbers, you know, whatever you got. You come in, you take out a a program. Um and it seems to me like you've just been like you said, this is your eighth program, and like you know that you've got to come in. And in my opinion, is like you've been nose to the grindstone. And and and which has been a little weird for us, but good. Like I can see it's the program needs it. And so it's like we this is the first time, you know, we're mid-March and and and we're this is our first, you know, podcast, which is which because you've been busy. Like you've been like, I got a program to stand up, I got th and I got people to put in place, I got things, and I got recruiting to do. And so it just strikes me that you're uh nose to the grindstone. Um business is where we're at, and I've got a lot of business to take care of before we get out of school this spring, and then before, you know, we certainly start next fall. So tell us a little bit about you know what your team looks like, how the numbers are, and you know, how your recruiting's been. That's a that's big, big, big ball of wax there, but let you have it.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yep. So first then let's start with our guys that are here now.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

And um, the biggest thing with them is been focusing on just coming together as one. And we we've been doing a lot of team building stuff um in a different form. You know, not just, hey, what's your name? Like we mix them up in teams. So if we don't have a depth chart right now, to be honest with you, we got offensive players and defensive players. And that's not really been the focus, that's what spring ball is finna be.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

You know, so and but we identify leadership in a different way. So what I did just to try to make it as vanilla and non-judge bital as possible, I just lined everybody up for our first early morning and just counted them off through six. One, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six. All the ones, you all a team, all the twos, you're a team, all the threes, all the fours, all the fives, eight, the sixes. And we had different competitions. You know, we did like um centipede push-ups, team push-ups, push-ups, uh, heels on your shoulders, up down on the whistle. Yeah. Last team standing. Everybody else doing up downs, you know, that type of stuff. 45-pound plate holes, you know, in each other's face, me versus you. Who gonna break first?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

That type of stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Uh push-ups on the whistle, who's gonna be the first one to break? Um all type of just competition. Crab walk, crab crawl, center, everything, just getting them competing. Then uh we did some team building stuff to try to get them to understand like everything is catered to have success. So, what I mean by that, you guys remember to stack it to win it game?

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Where he stacked the cups and all that.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

So we put them in teams, and we did, I did this intentionally. We put them in teams. So the first guy, he's stacking the cups, and there's other people not involved, right? But it's gonna be just like a game. It's gonna be 11 people on the football field, and you may be on the side. So I want to give them a clear indicator that hey, everything is a competition, everything's evaluation. So I let them go through one or two times. I'm seeing these whole group of kids back here having these sidebar conversations.

SPEAKER_05 22:00

And I'm like, this is just like a game.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

These guys are gonna be over here playing, and y'all need to be paying attention to who's playing on the field.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

You can't be back here talking just because you're not out there, because if your numbers call, you're not gonna be ready. You know? So that was a teaching moment. Like this is carryover. Yes, it's gonna be hard to focus if you're not out there, but now that's telling us about your character. Because now you're telling me you're being selfish without saying I'm selfish. Because if you're back there talking and the team is out here performing, and you're not investing in what's going on on the field, then you're not investing in our success. So we took that same thing, and now, say me and you, you got your stack of cups, I got mine. I saw one kid knock theirs over, right? And then the other kid knocked theirs over. So I punished them. Y'all got up downs. Well, he done it first. Well, the same thing gonna happen in the game. The official is gonna see the guy that retaliates.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Yeah, yeah. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

So getting those same teachable moments, like, hey, the stuff we're doing, yeah, we're having fun. But in order to have fun on the football field, you gotta win.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

That's the fun part about football. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

And teaching them how success works, you gotta be dialed in.

SPEAKER_05 23:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So we did a lot of that over these past six weeks. Um, I think the biggest thing that I'm impressed with is our graduate assistants in the weight room. Uh, those guys are awesome. You know, uh Aiden is the guy that's kind of running it. He got two guys that work with him. But I mean, those guys are impressive. They can, you know, and they got them running, um, they got them moving. You see guys' body changing. Uh, so we took body composition pictures at the beginning, and we'll take them here next week, the before and after, to see what guys' production was. So that's kind of what we've been doing with the team building. Uh, then we did some stuff, dude. We did some fun stuff, like you know, uh what they call the uh the cookie, eat the cookie off face, where the guy put a cookie on your forehead.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Where you gotta get it down to your mouth by just using your yeah, you look foolish. Oh no, you don't look foolish, Troy, but it's on Instagram. You said a coat, you said it there, and you have to make all sorts of weird faces to try to get it down to get it in your mouth. Am I right, coach?

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

All right.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

That was fun. We've done a lot of that type of stuff. Play some dodgeball so you could compete. Yeah. Um, so just again, just find the ways to compete without having to be on the football field. And this accountability stuff and just getting to know each other. And you and you could tell who was leaders and kind of who's over their process and stuff, you know, and I'm looking for that. And it was it was good to see, you know. And the biggest part about it, like I said, you guys when we started, was we started at 5.30 and our start time was 5.30, but we normally started by 5.25. Because guys was there, guys was checking on each other, guys was in their lines, uh, and you know, just so that was very impressive, you know, for the first point. Right. And then I was just like young kids, got to feeling themselves a little bit like, hey, we still ain't played a game yet now.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Like, don't we still amongst each other. Like, don't start, we gotta be focused still. You know, so that's kind of where we've been. Now the next phase uh we're recruiting. Uh we've just been trying to hit the ground hard. We went up to the Minnesota Glazer Clinic as a staff and met a lot of high school coaches in Minnesota, up in Minneapolis. That was uh three weeks ago. Made some contacts that area. Then we went down to the Iowa High School Clinic two weeks ago down in Des Moines, met a lot of coaches that way, uh just getting our name out before we go spring recruiting. Uh we was able to bring in 14 guys that semester uh at mid-year. So that was good. Those guys are you know coming along again. We'll see what they can do on the field. Uh, but we feel good about what they bring so far. You know, uh, and now we're recruiting. I just got back from a regional, from three regional combines down between Oklahoma and uh Texas, where we saw uh over 300 kids. So, and just we calling those kids and just got guys coming in and uh trying to just, you know, get the get the numbers that we need, get the right people. And I think we got a good nucleus here of guys. Uh now it's about putting them in the right seat on the bus. And that's what we'll see moving in the spring ball, what we're doing. Um and then just getting ready to hit the ground with our fundraising. We had one good fundraising where we did popcorn, raised a lot of money over four days. Uh, and then the next phase doing spring ball, we're getting ready to launch our uh women's clinic that's gonna tie in with our spring game.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

Okay. Well, let's talk about spring bang spring game as well. That's coming up um when?

SPEAKER_00 26:37

April the 18th is a tentative date.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

Okay, tentative, and yeah, oh, the weather is gonna be fine. I feel like it's gonna and sometimes in April it's never know. Never know. Yeah. We had two weeks ago, we had 60 degrees plus 70 degree weather here. You could have been doing outdoor track meets, and then now here we are looking at some storms potentially this weekend. So but I mean it's Iowa. Yeah. It's my fault.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

Yeah, it's my fault. I'm gonna tell you right now, it's my fault. Um, I uh um I went and got my boat on Sunday. Oh, did you? So yeah, I got the boat. I got excited a little open water. Well, I get pretty excited to go because the ice is uh over at Okaboji, which is about 85 miles away, whereas we have a place over there, and I love to fish. And I tell you what, coach, as soon as I I just thought maybe it's too early. No, no, it's not too early, but guess what? 12 plus inches of snow coming on Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 27:31

We'll see about that. We'll see. Better be less. I hope so. That's my fault. I called it. There's a reason Iowa is a national leader in high-quality farm-to-table beef. Nothing matches the superior marbling and taste of fresh family farm-raised Iowa beef. Buy direct from Sunnyside Farms and cut out the big beef cartel. Know your farmer, and have the confidence you are feeding your family the high-quality protein they deserve. High-quality protein, like our own Iowa beef, is now at the top of the USDA food pyramid. And unlike grocery store beef, you can trace your beef to one farm and one steer. We focus on the health and welfare of our herd and practice environmental stewardship that helps restore the land and improve the quality of our beef. Experience big savings with one initial upfront fee that covers the entire process. Beef packages are sold in quarters, halves, or even a whole steer. A quarter steer averages around 200 pounds of beef, but you only pay for the final cut weight of your ordered portion. No water or feed weight. We've partnered with quality from the USDA inspected Conger Meat Market. Every beef package includes steaks, roasts, ground beef, even ribs and soup bone. Beef halves include a brisket. And for an additional nominal fee, you can have patties made, summer sausage, and delicious beef sticks for snacks anytime. No fillers or added chemicals, just straight from our farm to a quality custom processor to your freezer. Right in time for grilling season. Use the text the show link in this episode show notes with your name and contact info to place your order today. Our supply is limited, so act now. With the uh with Springball, that'll be the last time that um that they play on that turf.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Great.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Yeah, I mean I so I'm excited about that. Oh yeah, yeah. I hate that turf.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

I know you do. I've been I've been out, I mean, I have spent the last this is I'll be entering what my seventh seas sixth or seventh season. I think seventh season um being helpful. Six seven? Shocked. Come on. No. No. Just I've got a I've got a 10-year-old grandson. Yeah. I think I don't get enough of that. So the uh no, it's I um I've I've hated that turf from day one, trying to give it some sort of life and conditioning it and sweeping it and gluing it and patching it and doing everything that I can do. And I know that um a lot of times that the the football staff was doing that as well. But then when found out that that yes, uh Warrior fans were getting new turf.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

Yeah, we are the Lord. Yeah, new turf means uh great things for uh we need it, obviously. Uh the blue stars actually won't be here uh this year. I found that out just yesterday, actually. Yeah. So I thought they were coming, and then they were gonna be on the practice fields and and a little bit of time over at the high school turf field, but apparently they're actually not gonna be in Forest City um this year, and we'll see, I guess, what happens after that. But um, yeah, they look, I mean, it's like it's I like their music when they're in town. Uh they do cause a lot of damage to the to the field. So it's gonna be nice to have uh fresh field uh and all of that. And of course, listen, that also now I'm looking right into the camera. Of course, that means that the the gridiron club, we went ahead and uh at our last meeting, we obligated back in well, January, uh, we obligated ourselves to we're gonna pay for that uh cool W emblem, the helmet W in the middle of the field. Waldorf needs that. It should have been there uh when they first installed it, but that was a different time and they couldn't get the two parties to agree on on color schemes. That's out the window. Uh we're gonna have that uh that that that blue that Waldorf. Now that costs, by the way, about$20,000. So just like we did uh a couple years ago, we raised$20,000 uh as a gridiron club fairly quickly. Uh we're gonna we're gonna need that again. And so uh go ahead and go click the donate button on the on the on the uh website and and help uh help uh make that happen uh because that's that part's on us. The rest of the field is purchased by the school and uh uh the or Waldorf University and the school district. Uh they partner on that and then on the other football field as well. So but we need that uh we need that W. I mean it just looks so much better and and all of that. Now I tried to get them to do purple end zones, but uh they should have. But they end zones with white letters, Waldorf, and four years. Look, what can I say? I tried, but uh I don't that's not my that's not my lane. And for what I think soccer didn't quite like it or something like that, or something like something like that. So you understand that. You know, it's multi-use field and and it's gonna look beautiful, it's gonna be brand new. It's gonna be like I think it's gonna be uh great for the team, great for the uh safety and everything else that we wanted to do. It's just gonna look great. And coach, new coach, uh new turf, boy, you just roll in and be like, look at this, look at what I brought you.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Somebody got ride the carpet, why not me? That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Might as well take. Yeah. So okay, you grow up in Oklahoma. You you've really spent um kind of the majority of your career from that Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma. And this is your further furthest north assignment. How are you? How hospitable have you found the weather so far, coach?

SPEAKER_00 32:50

It was tough.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

But once I realized that it was a such thing as single, I mean minus, single, minus double-digit degrees, which I've never heard of. Yeah, I was like, this got, I was looking at my phone. This got the phone got to be not updated. Like, what is going on? What the negative 18? I had to go to Google, like, is this a real temperature? Okay, yeah. So after a week of that, and then that's the cold I've been. So I've been fine since.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

That's good, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

You know, but that now I told uh some of the people athletics, because I I came up in December.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

All the way up until two weeks ago, I didn't know it was no grass out here. Cause it was snow all the time. I was like, is it sure it's a grass out here anywhere? All I'm saying is snow every time. I had to see everything else.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

It's all brown right now, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

So it no, it was the weather, uh, like I said, it was different, but uh, I lived in Nebraska and it get that type of cold, but it got cold.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Well, yeah, say, because uh you're at Hastings, yeah, and um down there, uh uh that's still gonna be 20, 25 degrees warmer than it is. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like it wasn't, it was not like this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

So but it was I had to make sure I got me some coats from Iowa, because the coat I had from Arkansas was not working. That ain't gonna work. So I had to buy me some clothes from up here. Yeah. You know, the thermos I had was not the thermos that's needed for this area.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

So we see that. I mean, we uh we've been uh you know taking care of you know players as the gridiron club too. You see guys come into town and sometimes they're from you know Florida, down south, you know, but where I was just in the Sarasota area or something like Tampa, Tampa, you know, and it's like they don't have those and never experience that. And they get up here and they're like, well, I know it's gonna be cool, so they got some sweatshirts. Yeah. I was like, oh let me let me hook you up. Like we need it, we need to help you out, you know, because uh yeah, it's different coats. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

I'm telling them, they like, well, I'll be okay, you'll find out.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Coach, you got yeah, let's go over here and see if we can get you something. Yeah, it's but other than that, I mean, it's been fine. I mean, uh, it's been great community. You know, I think the gift and the curse was going to the chamber of commerce and getting that gift basket and uh putting that picture on Facebook because everywhere I walk now, hey coach, saw you on the Facebook post. Hey coach, every time I go to high V, I meet somebody, so that's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Well, I guess you gotta know, coach, that uh people around here they don't got a whole lot to do, so they're just on their phones, like you were talking about earlier, looking at the Facebook, you know. Ooh, look at look like somebody's, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

Yeah, that's fine, because like it's awesome, man. It's awesome. I'm I'm enjoying this. Uh just open arms, you know. So we just we're gonna just keep plugging along.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

A lot of the you know, the things that I that you've talked about already, um, and and then you know, even watching the the team building, the games and things like that, and and using those teaching moments, it's it's all discipline. It's all about teaching the discipline, the discipline and getting up and doing the you know, the habits that are good, the looking like looking your best, you know, doing what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it, when nobody's looking, integrity values, things like that. Um, and that's I mean, every program, uh at least it's you know, they they they they say that they're trying to do that. It doesn't always translate um all the time. So you've got a lot of experience. You come and you've seen it all. Um, you know, and so how how does Waldorf compare from an outside perspective is kind of fun to it's like you know, in you gotta be, you know, whatever you have to say in your in your in the position, but it's like how does Waldorf compare the other programs as far as like what you're seeing with discipline, personalities, that type of thing?

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Well, the first thing that I think that's consistent with everywhere, it's a good group of kids. You know what I'm saying? That's yeah, that's above par for everywhere we've been. Um the thing that I guess that was most shocking to me is the facilities here. You know, because when I got here and I walked around looking like, oh, we got an indoor facility, you know, that we can use at this time of year, which is awesome. The locker room set up is beautiful compared to a lot of the schools that I've been at. And then the weight room is just off the charts. You know, you got three coaches in there, in the weight room that's there all day. You don't have that. And then just the adequate facilities, you know, then the stuff that our training room does and how they integrate technology into stuff, as far as with concussion testing, with uh health reports, with setting up training schedules, those things are what you look at. Cause now you don't have a whole bunch of kids waiting in line to get something done, you know. Uh the same thing with compliance, you know, just integrate technology and the availability of that stuff, you know. And then from the athletic department, taking care of travel, taking care of officials. Because it's places I've been where that stuff comes out your budget.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Oh, really? Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Yeah. So I'm saying, so when people say, well, we don't have that, but you have that. You have that, and you have that, and you got to be solution-oriented, you know. Um, and then you got a community that's proud. That's the biggest thing. You know what I'm saying? You got a proud support, and you know you got proud support when you go somewhere. You know, and with proud support come expectations, and you in this business to be expected to be successful. You know, so you have the stuff that you looking for that can operate at a high level. You know, from the facilities, from the support from the administration, from the support from the community, you know, uh and then you got a recruiting pool because you you can recruit national here. You know, I mean you got an airport two hours north and south for you. That can get you anywhere, you know. And then nowadays you got kids that are willing to travel to play. You know what I'm saying? Obviously you work inside out on your recruiting, but you got enough things here to make it appealing. You know, and then a coach's offices, like this is probably out of eight schools, this is the second school I've been at where if you had a meeting room that could hold more than a hundred people with projectors, audio, and everything's working.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Now, some people had us though. I don't mean everything's working. That's right. You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? And you know that's key.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think we fall into the trap at Waldorf of um being an old school and fresh to the G PAC. And then if you look at just the the pride and the tradition of these G PAC schools, that I think we have a hard time comparing ourselves with like the morning sides that have won national championships, and then they have the donor pool behind it and the following. So that but their stadium is is old, it's beautiful. Um, and so I think a lot of times we fall into that trap of comparing ourselves to those other GPAC schools, like, wow, we don't have, and we don't have that's good to hear. It's nice to have that perspective of somebody that's that's seen other programs all the way from the FCS level to the NAIA level and um division two. I don't know if you ever went to Division III.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

No, I didn't three division two.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

That's good. Yeah, we you'll have to Troy and you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

Division three. I don't get it. Yeah, but anyway, leave it at that.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

No, I like to say the facilities, man. And then when I saw the office, I mean I ain't stayed in some apartments and been that big. You know what I'm saying? Like this big long meeting table, there's a couch, then it's big old 60-inch TV, then it's you know, you're picking up computer on first day, you're picking this stuff up. You there's places, you know, you're waiting a month to get this, you're waiting two months, you know. Like people just so efficient in their assistance, you get on track. Business cards, coach, boom, they right there, you know. Travel plans, boom, they right there. Yeah, boom, that's right there, you know. And it's people just so helpful and just consistent on the communication because that's what I'm big on.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

And that's that's what awesome. Um from what I can like say, just comparing and contrasting other places. It's a lot of stuff that if you hadn't had it, right? You know what I'm saying? Then you like, mm-hmm. And I'm here because I know what it's like to well, we don't have no laptops coaches. You know, you have to fundraise for that. You know, yeah. Or a coach, you know, like I said, y'all gotta pay for recruiting. Yeah. Like I'm saying, like, people don't just assume that stuff just happens.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Right. Well, a lot of people don't know the the kind of that CD underbelly of what goes on in in college athletics. And, you know, one of the things I'm interested in too is that obviously there's been, you know, with Coach Chopp's departure and some of the other staff that have gone on for whatever reasons, and God bless them, you know, we wish them nothing but the best. You know, that leaves you an opportunity to fill a staff. We talked about Coach Gales um a little bit. Um, but what is obviously your staff isn't full yet, but uh um what are some of the key things that you're looking for?

SPEAKER_03 41:55

Of course, we know Coach Donatio's still here, and so the he yeah, and then there was one is the is the is I saw I saw Danny at uh the Chinese restaurant the other night. So I saw yeah, just a Donatio and you mentioned Coach Gales, and then like uh Andy, you said you know uh Riley uh uh left. I think he went to UW Rivio Falls. Keeg uh Keegan handle is still here, but Kasen is Keegan still here Kegan Keegan's still here, but Caseen left uh a while back. Um CJ No. Is he still with us? He's still okay. That's good. That's good. That is good news. Yeah, and then uh yeah, so then you've but you've got some and then this this old guy at the bottom, Andrew Bowen, then director of player personnel. Still don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

If you could help me out, coach, and uh like if we could define that a little bit better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

You got Josh Mitchell. You said didn't you say Mitch? Is he still with us? Yeah, Josh is still there. And did Lou move on? Lou Williams? Yeah, he graduated. He graduated, so okay. I thought Lou was gone. Yeah, he graduated. So you gotta, I mean, if you uh are you what are you what are you looking to fill or you feel like you got what you need or no?

SPEAKER_00 43:02

We still feel obviously the offensive line spot.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

Yeah. That's right, yeah, with Riley gone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

We're looking to fill a spot on defense with linebackers, uh, and I got a GA position.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

You know, that um and it's obviously we're getting a lot of interest, right? Like you have what you're looking for. First, I'm looking for just a good person that wants to teach.

unknown 43:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

That's the first thing. Just want to pour into people. You know what I'm saying? Not just somebody and to be honest, we may go through spring without a culture too. Because that's not the concern. The concern is to make sure that our guys learn how the importance of toughness, how to compete, and what we're doing schematically. And it will be fine.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

Listen, I mean taking back. I love the way you said that, coach. Because you said it was uh that's I haven't heard it quite said like different things like that since I was in like maybe basic training on that. It's not the concern. And it's like immediately, and just like, I guess I'm not gonna worry about that anymore. Like, how many times do you have to, you know, like with players and coaches and Olympic? That's probably that's a very useful tool in your toolbox. Have you been practicing that?

SPEAKER_00 44:14

No, well, I haven't been practicing it, but been fortunate enough to be around the game has happened before.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

You know what I'm saying? And uh, and every time it happens, is it's kind of when I say it happen when coaches move on. It's never always a good time for them to move on.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

But, and it was funny. My I'm moving from an NEIA to a Division II school at this time, from Langston, the Southeast. It's right before Fall Camp is finna start. So we're finna start Fall Camp on the 7th, and it's August the 4th. I get this job uh offer. And I'm talking to my buddy, the Office of Coordinator at Langston. I'm like, man, I don't know, I'm gonna take it. You know, I want to leave these kids. We got relationships, you know, because I'm invested.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

I'm invested.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

So I go, he said, man, you better take your hind parts down there and interview. He said, we'll be all right. So I'm like, man, I don't know. So I go down there and interview, sit down with the coach, and he said, uh, you know, I want to offer you the job like that. He said, we start camp on the eighth here. Now it's the fourth. He said, I need a decision. I said, uh, well, coach, no, I want the job. I said, I want to go back and talk to my head coach, let him know. Uh I said, I don't know about, you know, it's the timing. And he looked, this one I knew college coach coaching college football was a business. He looked me straight in the eye and he said, Greg understands.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

So he gets it. Yeah, yeah, he gets it. It is such, it is such an interesting fraternity because you think that like, well, the Waldorf coaches just know the Waldorf coaches. And you y'all know everybody in the business. You know, from up ladder, down ladder, it doesn't matter. Like, you know, oh yeah, Bill over there's a good dude. You like him.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

So every time I look, like so with Riley, say, Coach, I got some, I'm like, that's on me for what I did then.

SPEAKER_05 45:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

So then I like, you know, it's part of it. Yeah. So people come and go, you just hope when they're with you and you with them that they impact you, you impact them in the in a straight way.

SPEAKER_03 46:08

Yeah, it's probably like you said, it's probably never like there's never an ideal time to to, you know, to to you know, change coaching tradition, but it happens. And and so, you know, it's not also the worst thing that it happened, you know, when it did, it was the end of the season. Uh we got, you know, and you came in, and and then there's gonna always gonna be a transition with with with coaching staff and and and people are f filing, you know, fine finding their ways in different directions. This is all happening before we get to spring ball, and so that gives you the opportunity, like you said, we got offense, we got defense. We're gonna see what we're gonna do. And uh you've got your OC here, you're the DC head coach, and so it's like um the rest of it will will fill in.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

It'll figure itself out. Not a concern.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Well, it it's a different position for us than uh when when Coach Choppa was named head coach, quite uh like quite literally. Um there was Coach Finley uh decided to go down to uh I don't even remember down in the Lindenwood at that. Lindenwood, yes, thank you. You have you got Langston on my head, um, which is cool. But so he goes down and they name Coach Paramore, who's down at uh East Texas AM right now. Um but so they name him, and he was he's 25 years old. You know, and he just again I love Chase Paramore to death, but it was fart in a flying fan. I mean, he was here for like three months, and then that's why he leaves in in the first part of July. Coach Chapa was named head coach. He was just going in like I'm the DC. That's what that's what I'm gonna do. Coach Paramore was gonna call the offense, and all of a sudden it's like, okay, you got a game in seven weeks. And now it's like you're the head coach, and uh now your offensive line coach is your offensive coordinator. Let's see how that goes. Well, you can imagine how it went.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

He was drinking from the fire hose, but I mean, coach, the nice thing about I mean, you you you're coming in with that, you can just tell there is a ho there, you got the head coach experience. I mean, you got the the mindset, this is how you build a program, this is how I build a staff, this is my focus on recruiting, you got your stuff in order. You don't have to learn it as you go. You're always improving, I'm sure, but I mean you've got to focus on on uh you it kind of shows that you I mean you know what you're doing when you're coming in.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

And and and I I mean and you I mean we'll see you being a first when you've been a first at doing anything from a leadership, you you take your bumps, you hit your head. Yeah, yeah. And then obviously if you don't learn from it, you know, and I've learned from the first time.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

You know, and uh and just taking those lessons and uh just you know chopping wood a little bit different. And uh and the biggest thing I learned is Coach Stewart, who coached me, he always tells me I played to know me is to love me. And what that means, and I didn't really understand that until he started coaching with me at Central, because I hired him as my defense coordinator. And basically what that means is you gotta know me as a person before I'm gonna accept your direction and your instruction. So that's why we're big on the get him to come to the office, get our kids to come around. So we on a personal level. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then they're on a personal level. So now if I'm getting on you about not hustling, you know it's not coming from a place I'm trying to tell you what to do. It's coming from a place that we all trying to pull in the same direction. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But we gotta make it intentional with making them interact because of the cell phone.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

You know, and Coach Gales, what he does, they go into the meeting, they all put their cell phones on the back table when they start the meeting. And they come in my meeting because I meet with them. If the phone goes off in my meeting, it's with me for 24 hours. I'm gonna text your mama. I'm gonna text, hey, I got the phone. Now, it can go off. You got an emergency. Yeah. You come and you tell me, say, Coach, hey, I'm waiting on a phone call by financial aid. That's fine.

SPEAKER_03 49:55

Think ahead.

SPEAKER_00 49:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

Just commit, just be accountable. Think ahead, yeah. Be accountable.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

You know, they have some pushback. Yeah. I said, hey, nine, go east and west, 35, go south, north and south, get you anywhere in America, I guarantee you. You can play football, but you probably won't be playing at Waldorf.

SPEAKER_03 50:12

That's nice.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

But you gotta be accountable. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 50:15

Yeah, I love that. You gotta be accountable. I just heard a comedian talk about how they were like when they were that's what they did. Like their teacher would take it for they held it for 24 hours. They bring it, give it back to you the next day, which is great. But that was back in you know, flip phone times. Yeah. Absolutely. And they're like, what about well did you have a did you have a did you have like a password on your on your phone? It's like, no, this is flip phone.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

Just opened it up and it was there. Yeah, if you wanted to type a letter, you had to push a button four times, possibly. It was crazy. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that was old school. Oh, you could play with Snake. Yeah. So coach. Some of the things that obviously we we know you have a great football mind. I mean, that's that's going to be very apparent to anybody that watches this or listens to this. But so what do you do when you uh when you're not all about football and stuff? What do you do to let your hair down? What do you what's uh some of the things that you do to kind of reset?

SPEAKER_00 51:08

Just like any football coach, watch football. No, uh just hang with coaches, you know, uh and college buddies. And that's what and the biggest thing I'm trying to get these guys to understand, man. Once you win a championship in college, you're with those guys for the rest of your life. You're connected. You know, it's about 40 of us on the group chat, and I ain't played since '95. And we stay in communication daily. You know what I'm saying? And we have uh one buddy, he's successful down in Texas, got a big old place. We go down there the third week in June and hang out, you know. Uh in May, you know, and then the kids I coach that we won at 21 team in uh Missouri, I talk to those guys, they always planning something. And that's what I'm trying to get these guys to understand. So I I don't do a lot. You know, I go home to Oklahoma because I never coached the Southeastern, that was one semester. That was like an hour from my house. Um so my parents, my mom has seen me coach football one time.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

One game. She's my cousins brought her up to uh Missouri for one game. Uh, and my dad came to Nebraska one time.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

So anytime I got a break, I go home. All right. You know, we ride horses, four-wheelers. I mean, I'm a country boy. You know, I do that uh on summer. Uh hang out with my partner. He Russell, we mess with cows, we got trail rides, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

You know, so regular old farmhand. I love it. Yeah, just good. Yeah, that is great. I mean, you'll fit into Iowa, it's just perfect, coach. Yeah, yeah, that's great. So mom and dad's still down, everybody good down there? Yes. Okay. Good. Yes, yes. What are your mom and dad's names?

SPEAKER_00 52:55

My mom's name is Shirley, but she goes by uh Tiny.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

And as far She's go she goes by Tiny.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

Yeah, that's her name. That's right. T-I-N-Y. And that's uh that's what I call. That's all I knew to call her. So I call her Tiny. That's well, that's my mom. All right. Uh she raised me with my grandmother and my um three cousins. Okay. So she had an older sister that passed when they were young. So we all grew up in the same house.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:22

My dad was in the military the majority of my high school life.

SPEAKER_01 53:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

And he came back and retired going into my junior year of uh high school. Okay. His name is Irvin Jones. So, and uh, but now they get along fine. Uh you know, it's good time.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

Family's everything. Yeah, so I go home as much as I can, pretty much. How long a drive? About what 10, 12 hours?

SPEAKER_00 53:49

I just tell people ever. I just get to drive and just I just try to do checkpoints. Kansas City, Oklahoma City, out of there. But it's about it's about 12. It's down there. So but no, I don't do a lot uh as much as I used to. You know what I'm saying? I I just turned 50 to be 51 next week. So now I'm in a different phase in coaching. So we was coaching in Kingsville. I just we was out every night.

SPEAKER_01 54:19

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

Because we 25 to 35. And we all single at the time. You know what I'm saying? Now coaches got wise, older. So I just kind of just try to stay the course with football. Uh up here, I hadn't even been to Mason City yet.

SPEAKER_02 54:33

Oh, well.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 54:37

So you missing much.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

Come on. And just, you know, just trying to um get this thing ready to go.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

You got everything you need in Fort City. You got a high V.

unknown 54:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:46

You've got the conger meat market. Yeah, at the Conger meat market. You got a Mexican restaurant, you've got a Chinese restaurant, you've got shooters. Yeah.

unknown 54:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:53

Um there's a bowling, and there's the VIP. That's hey, if I go, if I go out, that's where I'm going. I've been to the VIP lounge. Who drug you to the VIP?

SPEAKER_00 55:04

I met uh Adam Nim there after the uh Falsey Awards.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

There you go. That's right. Yeah. That's right. I heard him talking about it. I didn't get an invite. Of course, I didn't it was it was getting late for this guy.

SPEAKER_03 55:17

I got a text and I I didn't get until I was already home. I didn't get nothing. I mean, it's just like that surprise birthday party. But I didn't get an invite to that either. I just knew about it. I didn't I didn't at all. Oh my gosh. Uh well, I tell you what, this is I mean, it's exciting for our for our viewers, our listeners. There's been a lot of things that have changed. And uh at the you know, the end of the last season, uh, and now to as we head into our our our new season of 2026, um, it's rolling into spring brawl ball, lots of things happen. Lots of people have questions. I'm sure that the players, parents, this is like, you know, when we started the podcast a long time ago, five years ago, it was so that parents could connect and see players and coaches that they don't necessarily get to see and kind of get their perspective so that when they're talking to their kids, they have a chance to understand, you know, who they're looking at. And then also it was a chance for players to hear themselves and their stories and all of that. Um, and a way for us to tell our story as a community as and a gridiron club. And now, you know, here at a start of our fifth season, um, we've you know gone through the changes and lots of lots of good things that are happening. You pointed out some things that I think was important for us to hear is you know, as a community, as a gridiron club, and as our you know, players and and parents, like sometimes it is easy to get down a little bit on like, well, we don't have the nicest stadium all the time and all that stuff. But it's like what you're saying is a it's a great perspective and it makes you feel a lot better in all the work that we do as a as a club, as a community. I think we're very proud of our community and how and how they interact with every everybody and the team. Um, you know, you're not the only you go to the high V store, you know, go to the grocery store. Um, that's where you're gonna find, you know, your players are gonna have the same experience. Like you play football, and that's like you said, with that brand, if you're wearing that Warrior football brand, um people are gonna talk to you. They're gonna come to the games on Saturday. There, you know, there's uh there's just a lot of love and and uh for the for the for the players on the team because like you said, uh at the end of the day, uh start off with they're just good, they're just good kids. And and that's what it's that's what it's always been about. And so um we're just very happy to uh to to to have you here and move forward and get this get this uh train rolling because it's look we've been in the middle of a little dry spell here. So we're looking forward to some rain uh come this uh come this fall. And I do know that I know I don't know if it's published. I guess I could look, but the is the I don't believe it is the the schedule isn't isn't out yet. I have seen it, but it sounds like so it's like we're um what would you say about just without necessarily we can get into another episode and talk about our our schedule and stuff, but it looks like it's fairly well balanced. We had some weird um bye weeks in this past season, our first season, or second season of the G-Pack. So so so how do you feel about the order of the games and all of that?

SPEAKER_00 58:11

Uh I I hadn't looked at the schedule.

SPEAKER_03 58:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:14

I mean, because I know it's a whole conference schedule for everybody. So and I I'm telling you, what I'm excited about is school ending in November the 30th.

SPEAKER_01 58:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

And the reason I'm excited about that is that's playoff football. And we in the playoffs, we got our guys like a professional team at that point. Because you're not dealing with classes, you're just dealing with football. You know what I'm saying? So that's that's what's on my focus. Is getting us what we call the hunt for October is playing well in August and September, because you want to be playing meaningful football in October in order to play in November. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's what that's our thought process, and that's what I'm trying to get our guys to understand. Because if you talk to basketball players, their big thing over because they here most time over Christmas break.

SPEAKER_01 59:06

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

And they're like, and you, and I try to interact not just with our football players when I get to other schools, but with other sports and other people. And they like, coach, when it's when school is out after finals from December the 12th to January the 15th, we feel like we're in the NBA. I'm like, what are you talking about? Well, all we do is do our morning workout, go eat, do our morning evening practice, go eat, go back to the gym. If we don't have to go to class, we don't have to do this.

SPEAKER_03 59:33

Yeah, yeah, that's right. It makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

So they like, we feel like we're like pros. Okay. Yeah, yeah. From a schedule standpoint. You know what I'm saying? Because it's all about just the game at that point. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So that's what I'm excited about to schedule, you know, and it's it's really helps us with recruiting. Because you tell a kid, hey, like you said with the break, you get out November the 30th, you got the whole month of December and two months of January to work. Then in April you get out the 30th. You got the whole month of May at home. So you got the whole month of May, the whole month of June, the whole month of July, the whole month of December. You got four and a half, you got four months and two weeks that you're not in school. Who else is doing that?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

Not many.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:21

I don't know nobody. I've been to eight schools. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. That's a retention piece. Like, and then you tell that to high school kids, like, they like, huh?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

You know what I'm saying? So and that's what you gotta use instead of saying, well, we get out too early.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:39

No, yeah, use that to our advantage.

unknown 1:00:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:42

Obviously, we gotta win and be playing meaningful football during that time. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. We can't put the cart before the horse. But that's gotta be not, oh, we come late to count. No, yeah, week one's important, week two is important too, week three is important too. But at the end of the day, it's about can we get ourselves positioned to play in November?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:01

That's what I'm talking about. Oh man. Yeah. Love it. Super exciting. Well, it's gonna be uh uh I'm looking forward to uh uh spring ball, tentative, mid-April. You see the 19th?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:12

Uh we should start uh March 23rd. That's our first week.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:16

Oh, practice 23rd, yep, coming up.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

Spring game is April the 18th. That's April the 18th.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:21

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:21

So our practice schedule will be Tuesdays and Thursday evenings and Friday and Saturday mornings.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:27

All right, and then we normally we we will go Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and then they will be off the weekend. But since we don't have those two weeks in May, we're just going Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday to make sure if we got any room that lasts week of April in case of weather that we may have to delay something.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:45

Sure. That makes sense. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

Now we'll still plan to have the spring game. We'll just come back and make up those practices.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:51

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:52

Instead of moving the date.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:53

You know what I'm saying? Unless we can't get on the field on the 18th.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:57

You know what I'm saying? Because I'd rather have the couple practice after the spring game instead of trying to adjust the spring game.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

Yeah. Well, that's a good plan, too. That's a good plan. And the spring game is uh it's just a inner inner just in inner squad scrimmage type situation.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

Hopefully, because our biggest thing is to come out this thing healthy is to try to have enough bodies where we can have a purple and white team.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:18

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:19

Because we right now we have enough healthy old linemen. Now, if it's sloppy, we're not gonna do that. It's gonna be ones versus ones. Right? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So if everybody is gonna be highly competitive, that's why we're not gonna be doing a lot schematically, because we want to see if people can block, see if people can tackle.

unknown 1:02:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:35

You know what I'm saying, and compete. So it's won't be a lot of trying to oh beat you for the call, beat me for the call. It's more like give everybody a chance, be clean, get a chance, get evaluated, get out of here healthy, and go into the phase three, which is summer, with a good taste in our mouth.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:54

So that's the uh that's the focus. That's what we're aiming for.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:57

Love it. So well, that's great. Um, you know, uh, as we said earlier, you know, Troy and I had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with Coach. And uh, you know, so it's good for for our listeners, for our fans that listen to this and watch this to be able to get to to know you and a little bit about what what makes you tick. But one of the things we always like to do, since we're getting close to our hour, I think we're over our hour, um, is is we always like to give our guests the last word. So if there's something you want to say to family, friends, fans, the team, warrior nation, Waldorf University, whatever it is, coach.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:34

That you haven't said already. Yeah. This is the first time they've seen you. I mean, for a lot of our most of our you know, viewers and listeners, it's a great opportunity to address them directly or whatever you want to say.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:42

Yeah, I first I just want to obviously thank the Waldorf administration for uh give me this opportunity. Um and then the Green Iron Club, and like we've been around some booster clubs, but you guys are freaking off the charts. Like when I saw the Bowsey Awards, I was like, because Coach Gale said, I watched that online. He said, I ain't never seen nothing like that. That's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:07

Yes, he said, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:08

He said, I watched the whole thing. I was like, I said, man, I he said I said, Coach. He said, man, I said, I'm still in shock. I'm calling everybody. You know, I said, I'm sending a link to people. So what you guys do, like with the tailgate, and then we told me y'all spent all that money on trees. I said, I call Coach Stu. You hear me refer to him a lot. And uh, like I said, he's like my second dad. And I said, Coach Stu, man, these dudes spent 16,000 on trees. He said, What? He said, Oh man, they for real. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying? So, like people understand a lot of times, like when you got support like that, you gotta want to come invigorated to go to work. You know what I'm saying? And again, that's fortunate to me being my 27th year, and it never felt like a day of work, and it just makes it feel that much easier. You know what I'm saying? Where you got people that can say, hey, you can go get this done, we gotta plan to help you get this done, we gotta plan to help you get this turf done, or whatever it may be. You know, so just to thank you guys and what you guys already have established here and just being able to be come in and be a part of it. You know what I'm saying? And and my main focus is to make sure that for this our location for city, to make sure we put a product on the field that that you got a fan base that's gonna be excited about it. And we already know you're proud of it, but we want you to have something to be able to poke your chest out about once you move around. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:37

I think we understand that.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:39

That's what we want to be able to do, you know what I'm saying? Because I know you guys gonna show up. You know what I'm saying? We want you to be able to show up and be able to throw a big pizza party after it's over with at the stadium type stuff. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:50

Yeah, I was so ready. Uh and I mean you're supposed to have the last word, but I mean I was so ready to uh that last game. Oh, yeah. Well, not the last game. We lost to Dort. Oh, not the last game. Oh, for Dome. Oh, yeah. That was our second to last game. Oh, don't that's right. Don't have the playoffs. Dort, yeah, Dome did not. Yeah, Dort. Yeah, Dome. I was so ready to because I was sure we were gonna come, we were gonna we're gonna break this cycle on the lead. And I I run the music up there as of doing the announcing. I was so ready to play uh the beginning. Let's get crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:30

I was like, you're just gonna have to wait because this is gonna happen. And then I was like, oh, on to another. But that moment, Coach, when that comes, and for everybody watching, and it's coming.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:42

Yeah. Let's go crazy. We can't wait. So I already know then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:47

That's gonna be a it will be a glorious day. It will be glorious day indeed. Well, we want to thank thank uh Coach Callaway for taking some time out of his busy schedule to come out and uh get to know you folks a little bit better and talk to us a little bit and and kick off season five. And that's man, that's hard to believe. We I don't know how many of these episodes we've done. It feels like a billion sometimes. Sometimes it feels like it's well, after the as rusty as we are, it probably sounds like it's our second or third.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:18

So well, I thought it got a lot better. Our first minute or two was a little rough. It was rough, should have practiced. Yeah, well, you know, we'll just we'll we'll keep going.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:27

Keep the authentic authenticity there, you know what I'm saying? Make it keep it authentic.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:31

Yeah, that's true. It's not scripted. No, it's not scripted. Oh no. And it's also not well researched a lot of times. We he used to do all the research and he was just on this, and oh, you came from this and you like do all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:42

And well, then I start telling kids that like, oh, so you were the uh you were the vice president of your junior class, and be like, no. Yeah, like so then you didn't you weren't like the the best singer in your school or anything. You're like, no, I don't sing at all. Like, yeah, well, that is garbage. Get rid of that crap. We quit researching. It's more fun. Yeah, we're looking forward to everything we got going on here. Um, yeah, just every time that I have an opportunity to to listen to you, coach. The like the first time that that we met in your office that that afternoon, just briefly, um, the one thing that I always that I took away was like none of this is about football. Yeah, I mean, none the football will come later. We have we have a job to do to set a foundation so that eventually we're gonna get to football. And we will get to football, but and and I hope you know how much we appreciate that here. So X's and O's, but I mean it's all about football. That's how you do it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, you know, Troy, I think that's gonna do it for the episode one of season five. I believe it. Of the Waldorf Griddle. There it is. Yeah, there we go. Of the Waldorf Gridiron. So again, coach, thanks for coming out. Um that's gonna do it for us here at the Waldorf Gridiron Club Podcast for Troy Thompson. This is Andy Buffington, and forever and always, go Warriors.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:16

You can join the Waldorf Gridiron Club and be part of the best small college football experience teams on America. Just visit our website and get your membership level at Waldorf Gridiron Club.org. You can also click on the Support the Show link in the show notes to donate.