Waldorf Gridiron Club Podcast
Waldorf Gridiron Club Podcast
Meet Coach Jermaine Gales
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This week, Andy and Troy invite new Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator, Jermaine Gales to the bunker. You'll see Coach Gales is experienced, transparent, and determined to get the Warriors over that white line to the end zone....A LOT! Find out what he's looking at doing on offense, how the team is shaping up as spring ball begins, and his perspective on being a dad to six and "Paw-Paw" to seven (with more on the way!)
Welcome to this episode of the Waldorf Gridiron Club Podcast. Um, we're back in the groove. Uh we're season five, episode two, Troy.
SPEAKER_02That is that is correct. We are in our second uh episode now of the fifth season. We've been doing this for five years. Does that seem right? No. It really doesn't. I mean, it was after COVID, so it was, I mean, that's when we did it. So it's been five years. This is the beginning of it. It's crazy. Yeah. I mean, it's happening.
SPEAKER_03Long time, you know, and uh it's nice to be back in the saddle. And I know that I um, you know, today, uh, today's Thursday, and uh had the luxury of uh being spending a little bit of time with some of the guys uh in the locker room. They were they were getting equipment, getting ready for Monday when their world is gonna be changing. All right. Yes, and uh yeah, it's a lot of good things. But yeah, a few of the guys said, Yeah, hey, watch the uh watch the episode. So I think they like watching it more than they like listening.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they do. My wife does too. She likes she likes watching the she likes watching it on YouTube, so you know I feel like I've seen it a lot because I mean I I really don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, but is it because of me? It is, yeah, for sure. 100%. Yeah, yeah. I love you. I won't turn the camera off to you now. Come back to me here with my bald head, decided not to wear a hat today. Whoa. But that look, bald is beautiful, and we've seen it uh in the last episode. Yes. Uh head coach, you know, he's sporting the same haircut that I've got. Yeah. And now we're gonna meet the offensive coordinator who's got the same haircut I got. Our associate head coach.
SPEAKER_03Uh he's got one of those uh those tight haircuts that everybody loves, apparently. Around what I'm gonna have to shave my head.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I think I'm gonna have to shave my head. So I guess without any further ado, uh, folks, we're pretty excited. We told you last week, um, the uh the associate head coach, the offensive coordinator, the man that's gonna run this machine uh coming up this fall is is uh Coach Jermaine Gales. Here he is.
SPEAKER_02Coach, welcome, man. Welcome to the Gridiron Club.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's it's fun for us too. You know, this is our uh this is the first time I met you when you you came into the the studio, and and so it's it's nice to uh to put a uh a face with a name. I noticed that on the website there's not a there's there's not a face to the name yet, so we got to get that picture up there. So we want to make sure that uh everybody uh recognizes you when you're when you're walking around town. How's that been for you so far? It's been awesome.
SPEAKER_00It's been an awesome experience uh coming into Four City, uh you know, running into folks in the store. Uh I frequent Quickstar for my morning coffee. And uh, you know, everybody in there so nice. Uh I think they know me by name and face by now. Uh, but uh I haven't met a stranger. So uh it's exciting. My wife and I uh talk about that on a regular basis, and uh she's excited to be here as well.
SPEAKER_02Well, tell us a little bit about uh might as well get into that right away. Is it before we start talking football? You got uh your wife, uh, and what's her name?
SPEAKER_00Kizzy. Kizzy Gales. Kizzy Gales. Kizzy Gales.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's a great name. That is a great name. So and that that just that just kind of rolls off the tongue. So, what was her maiden name, if you don't mind me asking? Kizzy Forrest. Kizzy Forr. I think Kizzy Gales has a better ring, don't you? I do too. I do too. Yeah, how long have you folks been been married? 21 years. Wow, good for you.
SPEAKER_00Good for you.
SPEAKER_02Long haul. Uh any any uh any kids or anything like that?
SPEAKER_00Or I've got six children, all right, and seven and a half grandchildren.
SPEAKER_02Nice.
SPEAKER_03Holy's in the grandpa club. Oh yeah, Troy just became a grandpa. I've been a grandpa for not quite a year yet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, we're getting close, but yeah, we had uh first one. Austin was born uh back in um in February, uh the beginning of February. And so um I've only seen him once, uh, but uh pretty impressed with with him. And so yeah, boy, Andy, I mean we've got something uh talk about. I mean, obviously with uh um transition of coaching, uh new coaching staff. Uh we've got um but now it's it's not just that. I mean, for the last few years, we have been talking about how young our coaching staff is, and now we've got we've got some we've got some stalwart experience on our on our coaching staff. And uh and and Coach Gale's coming in uh with the grandpappy title as well. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03What is your grandpa title? Papa. Papa, all right. I'm papa. There you go. There's people around here that call me papa buff, but I I don't subscribe. You know, and I was actually talking to Coach Gales um in the locker room today, and I said it's it's nice to have some some folks around that are a little more seasoned that I can relate to. Yeah. Because you know, like Danny Donadio was like the oldest coach, and I'm I'm 22 years older than for the love of God. So it's finally nice that you know we can we when when I start talking about my problems, you know, our our associate and our head coach will be able to be like, Yeah, I know what you're feeling. Well, these guys are in better shape than I am. So I don't know, maybe not.
SPEAKER_02Now I have to now you said, did I hear you say seven and a half? You got a grandbaby on the way.
SPEAKER_00I do. Funny story, I gotta tell this story. Yeah. All right. So uh we go to uh Fettville, Arkansas this past weekend because it was my son's baby shower. All right. All right. Knowing that it was supposed to snow Sunday, you know, we tried to get there and get back uh before, you know, right, it all broke loose. Well, didn't make it. Okay. Uh we thought we were gonna make it, but we get to Ames and they shut down Interstate 35. All right, so they sent us to Forest City coming 69 the back way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right, by the time I got to ooh, somewhere in the middle of those cornfields, right? Yeah, a lot of them. The the there was zero visibility, couldn't see, uh, the wind was was towering over uh uh almost blew my car over. Yeah. You know, I tried to open the door, get out, and get ice off my windshield wipers, yeah, almost took me away, thought I was going to Kansas. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well you've got the right name for it. I mean, I'm sure you've heard that before, and Dorothy Gale. You're Gales, though. Yeah, Gales with a nest.
SPEAKER_00But you know, that was my first time driving through a blizzard. Really? I've never in my life seen anything like it.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the is this the fur is this the furthest north that you've coached? Correct. Yeah, yeah. Well, and it's a spring storm too, which makes it even more exciting because we you know, our opinion is like, well, we know it's coming, uh, and uh, but we also believe, hopefully, that it's our last one. So like we see these spring storms come in, and we also know that it's gonna be 77 degrees on Saturday, you know, so it's like it just comes and goes, but boy, what a mess it made in in the middle, you know. I I yeah, welcome to Iowa.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know exactly what a terrible way to welcome you to the to our beautiful state. But I'll tell you what, it's like I I 100% and I'll say this to everybody out there that's listening, I it's my fault. I have to own that. Uh I uh the Sunday, the Sunday before the blizzard, I went and got my boat out of storage thinking I'm gonna go fishing here before too long. Well that obviously no didn't happen. So that's why it was the terrible blizzard. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I you took credit for it. I took my uh I don't know if uh our our st our astute viewers will notice that I took the headphones off. You guys sound great, by the way. So I mean I don't need to listen to it through the headphones. So I mean, now if something happens, yeah, who knows we'll figure it out later. But yeah. Well, let's get into some football talk. Uh last week when we were talking um uh with Coach Callaway, you know, uh he's he's a defense guy, and he's like, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna run vertical. So let's let's talk about um your your I guess uh uh on the offense let's talk about what what you want to do.
SPEAKER_00Well first thing that I want Warrior Nation to understand is we're gonna do whatever we have to do to try to win football games. Right. Okay. Um there are certain things that we want to do, uh, but right now we're trying to figure everybody out. Uh I've got, you know, a little less than 50 guys on offense right now that we're trying to evaluate, and uh that that journey is gonna start on Monday or Tuesday of next week. Um but ideally I want to be able to throw the ball vertical. Um I want to back people up off of us. I want to be able to take what the defense is gonna give me, and I want to be very efficient with the football and move it up and down the field and get it across that little white line a lot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I like that. Yeah. I mean, yeah, Warrior Nation uh will definitely will appreciate that. You said that you had um you want to get um you're gonna you you you you there's things you want to do, but you're gonna do what you need to do to win. Correct. So I'm taking that as you are evaluating, like you said, what you've got, and you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna scheme based on the talent uh and the proficiencies of the players that you've got on hand as you develop that program. Is that is that what I'm hearing?
SPEAKER_00Uh yes and no. Okay, but here's the here's the thing. We we're I'm gonna install a system.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right. The system is gonna be installed, but which direction that goes depends on the type of personnel that we have.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The type of talent. I'm not going like nobody's reinventing the wheel in football. So we have to figure out uh who's doing what the best and what people's talents are and individuals' uh shortcomings are. And then we got to stay away from the shortcomings and try to capitalize on the you know the advantages that we can create with some of the you know, some of the guys that can do some things.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So you've got you talked about efficiencies as well and moving the ball efficiently. Um what is what do you what do you mean by that? Is it uh a faster offense? Is it a huddle? How do you envision all that?
SPEAKER_00We're gonna be up tempo, no huddle. No huddle. Okay. I wanna add, you know, I want to get 90 plays a football game.
SPEAKER_02Oof. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00You know, so I'm I'm trying to I'm trying to move, but we're not just gonna move arrogantly. Uh we're, you know, if we we have the mechanism to slow down if we need to. Sure. Uh, you know, we're not we're gonna try to keep negative plays off the table. Uh we're gonna try to use conditioning to our advantage. Yeah, and we're gonna try to move the ball across that little white line a lot. Yeah. You know, you hear me say that yeah over and over again. We're gonna try to move it across that little white line a lot.
SPEAKER_02You have um uh talk about uh you mentioned conditioning. So if you're if you're if you're no huddle and you're being uh purposeful with what you're accomplishing out there and trying to get those 90 plays in, um I mean conditioning is gonna be a huge part of uh the entire uh offense, the entire team, really, because if if if you're accomplishing getting across that white line, um you're effectively then then the defense is gonna be in um quite hopefully as because you've scored and and they're gonna and they're gonna be right back in. So talk about uh uh what you and coach um and just your staff is talking about as we enter into beginning spring ball, um the conditioning and the processes that you're looking at, and how that extends through the summer as they you know roll in in either in uh in July, some of them will be in July, and then certainly everybody will be here the end of July, beginning of August.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, the summer, the summer plans, like we have an idea uh what we want it to look like. Um I think coach is still trying to navigate some things. Um you know, ideally you want to have as many guys that uh you know here on campus as that we can have. Um but you know, we we're gonna we're gonna take what we can get uh in that respect and try to make it better the second time around. Um but uh as far as the conditioning, you know, we our guys are gonna have to understand that if like we don't plan on conditioning after practice, we shouldn't have to because we're gonna be moving that fast during practice. Um and we want to make Monday through Friday a little bit easier or a little bit harder than it is on Saturday, and so Saturday should be a little bit easier uh on the body because we're gonna get it done during the week.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I mean, I'm not saying that you know it's like Baylor or anything like that, but you know, I was thinking, Andy, like we might have to get our chain gang, they might have to start conditioning a little bit more because they're gonna have you guys you can move those chains, but they gotta keep that tempo going, they're gonna have to move those chains quick.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we one of the things you will find, coach, is that uh Waldorf University, and actually the city of Four City, um even at the high school level, has the finest chain gang in the nation. And you will see that, and I I will stand by that. Uh these guys are uh their own cards, business cards. Business cards. Yeah, you know, and uh they bring their own stuff and they're just uh they're they're professionals um and they're a great group of friends. They love you'll get to know them um this fall when we start doing um the uh uh the coaches show um out at out at uh shooters, I think, or we're gonna be. Yeah, yeah, we'll be out of shooters, you bet. Yep. So I mean all those things, these guys are great. Um, but yeah, they're um I think their their youngest dude is uh is probably Krutzinger, and he's probably in his late 40s, something like that. But then you also have Arnie um who's over on the other side, um 80s. These guys are they're weird. They've been doing it a long time. You're gonna love them. They're gonna love you.
SPEAKER_00I I think I I met young one young man at the basketball game. I was standing there eating popcorn, and he kind of walked up to me and was eating popcorn. I can't remember his name, so he's gonna have to forgive me for that one. Um, but if he's listening, he'll he'll know. All right, he'll know, and he'll let you guys know.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, and uh yeah, Jorgen too. I mean, he's Jorgen's in there. I talked to him. We got a track meet on Tuesday, and he was there, and and he he just he said he was watching he hadn't gotten all the way through, but he was watching uh the podcast last week as well. Really looking forward to uh the new the new coaching and new the transition and what what the team's looking like. He really liked what uh Coach Callaway had to say, and so yeah, those guys pay attention. Our fans pay attention and they're there, you know. I don't know if you're aware of this, Coach, but we haven't had a we haven't had a win in in over two years. And so uh but they're still out there, they're still um uh you know tailgating and they're in the stands and they're at the uh uh the weekly things on Wednesday nights at shooters when we do the coach's show, uh Warriors Live. And so yeah, I think you'll find that um the support is there. Now we're just really excited to to to to see that uh that that scoreboard change a little.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. And I'd be interested, Coach, how uh how Coach Callaway talked you into moving up to the tundra in the middle of a blizzard. I mean, did he make any problems? He does he like I mean he's known you for a while, obviously. You've coached against each other, um, but uh I don't know how did that happen?
SPEAKER_00Well we just we have a good competitive spirit, you know. We uh we faced off against each other um, you know, while we were in the SWAC, and uh I actually tried to schedule a contest with him when I was at Lincoln. Um just didn't uh it didn't g and haw, it didn't work out, uh, but we maintained communication uh off and on over the course of the next uh the next the following couple of years, right? And uh he ended up at University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, and I had a young man uh that I coached that ended up being on the same staff as a graduate assistant. Um and so we kind of reconnected. Um once that happened, uh we just, you know, I I congratulated him on getting the the job here, and at the time uh I was, you know, really wanting to change what I was doing. So uh I just didn't think I was gonna be in Four City Island.
SPEAKER_03Um none of us do.
SPEAKER_00And so I you know, for me it's it's about you know, I I accept challenges. You know, uh I bet on myself a lot. Um, and you know, sometimes it doesn't work out, all right, but that's part of the fun. You know, it's part of the fun. You don't take uh excuse, I need a hamburger or something, I need a cheeseburger, you know, I got pizza or something. Yeah, no. Uh but you know, it's it's it was a it was a deal to where I I knew um that there's something that could be done well between the two of us together. So uh why not? Why not Ford City? Why not Waldorf? And uh, you know, Coach Callaway is a great dude. He's a great guy. Uh he's totally transparent, which is what you know, one of the attributes that you like to have in a person that you're working for. Um so why not? And we're we're kind of the same way. I'm gonna be totally transparent as well uh with the guys that I work with. Um we bounce ideas off of each other. Uh, but at the end of the day, my job is to get Coach Callaway's vision out onto that 53 and a third and 120 yards long, so we can win.
SPEAKER_02How many how many uh years of coaching uh do you have? Because uh Calloway was saying this is 27 or 28 years for 27, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then so this would this will be 23 for me.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay. Yeah, I mean look at that. You got over 50 years of coaching experience in your top two guys, and so that that's gonna you're already seeing how the um, you know, we talked about it last week. Like when you know when when when Callaway came in, you could tell that he was nose to the grindstone. This isn't his first rodeo, and you know, getting things set up and and and prioritizing and um obviously met with the kids all the first week and did that, but then was out, you know, hitting the recruiting, uh, finding the coaching, getting the staff in in where he wants it to be. And then, you know, you're coming in with the the 23 years of experience yourself. Uh, how does that um when you come into a new program for you, uh, you know, um, how how does that experience like what do you what are your priorities? How do you how do you how do you roll in and you just say, well, I'm setting down my bags, here's where I go.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, I think what I believe is that when you come on, you know, an institution's campus, you have to start to develop relationships right away. Uh because you can't you can't do what you do as a as a football coach uh by yourself. All right. Um and it starts with the young men that you're gonna be in command of. You know, it's one thing to to be in charge of a group of young men, but it's one another thing to be a leader of that group of young men. And so you have to develop the relationships with those guys from them all the way across campus, all right? Because this is a a it's a project that's gonna require all hands on deck. You know, so if you can get that, uh then you can start to venture off and see how the individuality plays into everything. So yeah, I'm installing a system, all right, but I gotta make sure that those guys know me and trust me in order for them to execute the system.
SPEAKER_03Excellent. So we talked a little bit about um you know 23 years. Talk about a little bit where you came from. I think you uh you grew up in California, Los Angeles area, something like that. So yeah, talk about your journey through some of the different schools, where you got your start in coaching, and I know you played for two different schools, one in California and then Southern Arkansas, I believe, is where you where you finished up your college um playing career.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, sir. So I I grew up in Los Angeles, California, uh 83rd and Broadway to be exact. Um I could walk to the fabulous forum where the Lakers played. Um and you know, if you if you've been out there, you know that if you travel down Broadway, you can hit South Central Los Angeles and Inglewood are like right next door. So I I would go there on a regular basis. It's probably a three-mile clip uh there for me to get to the forum. Um I went to high school at a couple of different places. Uh had to bust outside of LA just because of in the 90s, you know, late 80s, early 90s, uh I think gang banging was an all-time high. It was rough out there. My mom uh wanted to keep me away from that. So she tried to put me in the best situation, so I bussed outside. So I ended up going to high school in Hacina Heights, California, and Whittier, uh California. You know, so I did that, didn't take the SAT or ACT, not one time. Uh at that time, um you needed like an 820 or 700 or something like that to play college sports. But also, you could go to junior college and get an associate's degree and automatically be eligible when you left. Nice. So that's the route that I took. I was a late bloomer in football. I thought I was a basketball player. So, you know, one thing led to another. I get a scholarship coming out of Mount San Antonio College, which is where I went to junior college at. Once I graduated from California High School and went from there, I came, I went all the way to Arkansas, sight unseen. Didn't take any recruiting visits, just bet on myself. I told you I like to bet on myself. Yeah. I went out there and became a two-year starter. And uh, you know, once I'd done that, it took me eight more years uh to graduate. So I I could be a doctor right now. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03A lot of you know what, we share something else in common. I only went to school for seven years. You know, a lot of people go to school for seven years. I know. They're called doctors.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I was I was a sound boy. I went uh graduated from Waldorf, went to the University of Northern Iowa for a little bit. That didn't work out, and we've told that story way too many times. Uh ended up moving back home, taking classes at Bunabesta at North Iowa Area Community College, went back to UNI. That didn't work out even again. Moved back home, worked at at uh um at Winnebago Industries for a little bit, and then finally finished my last two and a half years in Maryville, Missouri at northwest Missouri State. So um, but I went to school a long time too, coach, and uh I think it made me more intelligent, and I think that's probably true of you as well.
SPEAKER_00Well, it did something to me. I think I'm still breathing and walking around, so we're good. Well what position did you play? I was a receiver. Okay, yeah. I was a wide receiver. Uh, you know, so once I once I did that, all right, I I went home to California and was managing hotels after I graduated. So I ended up graduating. I graduated high school in '92, ended up getting my bachelor's degree in 2002. Okay. Uh changed major three or four times. I've got a biology uh major. And uh so I couldn't pass university chemistry. Uh so I passed it on the fifth time and was able to was able to graduate. Nice. Um, and then I'm I'm managing hotels in Escondito, Oceanside, California. I'm living in Escondito at the time. Uh my brother is uh Navy corpsman at Camp Pendleton at the time. And uh so I'm living with him, trying to find my way, just graduated from college. I'm trying to figure it out. So I get this job at a at a hotel. I'm an assistant general manager, and a year and a half into it, um, the offensive line coach, when I was playing, called me because he had just got the head coaching job and said, Hey, uh, how'd you like the free master's degree? And I say, uh, what do you mean? I don't understand. Like I didn't know. I was green. Um, he says, Well, I need a receiver coach, and you know, you have all the attributes that I'm looking for, you know, yada yada, the whole spiel. All right. So I go and I say, Hey, um where do I sign up? He's like, I just need you here in the middle of July. I need you here July 15th. Uh it was the end of May at the time. I jump in my little Zuzu trooper, my wife and my kids, uh, and we drive 23 hours, it was. Um, stopped one time.
SPEAKER_02Where was that school? What what school was that? Where were you going? You said you're Arkansas?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I was going back to Southern Arkansas. Oh, okay, okay, yeah. I was at Southern Arkansas University. Sorry, I thought I mentioned that. Oh, that's all good. Uh Southern Arkansas University is my moderator. Okay, sure. So I get there, and turns out that my GPA was a little bit lower than what was required to get into grad school. Yeah. So I had to do a semester as a student assistant. All right, but here's the thing. I had my own position room as a student assistant. Nice. So they turned me loose and uh couldn't get the GA salary and all that stuff. So what they did for me is that back then you had to uh do film exchange. We didn't have Huddle, we didn't have all that, that we had DVDs and VHS to if it was a long ways, you had to put it under the Greyhound bus. If it was, you know, driving distance, you got you were able to drive and meet a coach and physically change hands, you know, you know, do film exchange. And so that's how I got paid. I got paid mileage to do film exchange for that first semester. Wow. And so I just get take retake a couple of classes um and then got into grad school that next uh that next semester. Well, once that happened, once I got into grad school, I got my master's degree in a year in the summer. So it's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But both my my bachelor's and my master's is at Southern Arkansas University.
SPEAKER_03And that is right down like about that is about as far south as you can get in Arkansas. I mean, that thing is right on the border, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yep, right. Uh we're right in the corner of Texra Canada, Texas, uh Shreeport, Louisiana, Hainesville, Louisiana. It's right on the southern border, right there of North, Louisiana. All right.
SPEAKER_02Talk to me a little bit about so I mean you obviously made an impression on that coach who called you up out of the blue. It had been a few years since you'd played. I mean, right, because you played for him a couple of years, and then you you still had to go on beyond that to finish your bachelor's degree. So it'd been a while. And but he it stuck in his craw that um that you had these attributes. What what did he what what were those attributes? And um I guess I mean what he would all right.
SPEAKER_00Uh so I don't tell this story often, but um I'll I'll tell you guys because it's it's no matter what's not something not something that you want to brag about. Anyhow, uh when I get there, I'm fresh off the plane, uh coming from Los Angeles, California, to a place that I've never seen or barely heard of, you know. But once they said scholarship, I was all in. Um so I get there, I'm on campus less than two weeks. I, you know, got involved in intramural basketball, right? So we're I'm playing basketball. We hadn't even started weightlifting yet uh for the semester. So I was there a week before the semester started over Christmas. And about three weeks into the season, uh I joined this basketball team playing intramural basketball, and we got in a like a little brawl, like a little scuffle incident. I fall off the bleachers and break my hand. Oh, whoops. I'm a I'm a wide receiver that just got a scholarship. Yeah, and it was a full it was a full scholarship now. Like I didn't have to pay one dime to go to school. Uh I get there, and now your investments got a broken hand. All right. So, because I know like where I come from, those are hard to come by. Um I had to go to the doctor, didn't have to have surgery or anything, but they put a hard cast on me. All right. Um with that hard cast, I still have my fingers and my thumb exposed. All right. Never missed a day in the weight room, never missed a practice. I went from 12th on the depth to second on the depth chart in one spring with a broke hand and a cast on.
SPEAKER_02Those are some pretty good attributes, I'd say.
SPEAKER_03Made an impression.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think so. Yeah. So that was, you know, and I don't I don't tell that story because nobody believes me half the time. Yeah, you didn't catch no football with no cast on. If I tell these kids these days and that that, they they're not gonna believe Coach Gales. No, no, sir. No, sir. Uh, but you know, that's that's honest to honest guy, that's what happened. And yeah, uh, so you know, one thing led to another. Uh we kept in touch over the years. Once he got the head job, he called me. Um the offense that they were running, um, I knew, um, and he just kind of slid me in there, and then the rest is history.
SPEAKER_02Hmm. Yeah, so you you had this um uh I will say it, I mean, just the stories that you've told thus far, and the way that you've uh, you know, I mean, talk about transparency. I mean, you you said you know the coach Calloway's transparent, and you said you're transparent. I mean, I gotta say that's gotta be that's absolutely right. I mean, you you're not pulling any punches. Uh listen, I might I didn't take the SAT or the ACT, I went to junior college, I did the, you know, all of the everything, you know, and so how does that help you and how has it helped you as a coach this many, this you know, a couple over two decades, uh, while you relate to the players um themselves?
SPEAKER_00Well, I try to relay this, and I tell this story to those guys, right? To the young men that I'm mentoring. Uh it's not how you fall, it's how you get up. It's not how long it takes you to get it done as long as you get it done. And so I'm trying to teach these young men the game of life as I'm coaching them. And, you know, that I think that kind of helps that they know that I've been through some trials, um, you know, as we all do. But I'm I'm a pretty good product, um, you know, of the good Lord Above right now. I I feel good about my life. Yeah, you know, and so I want the I want those guys to feel the same way. Um, you know, I I didn't have uh an opportunity to be at the BCS level, you know, or when it was BCS or Power 4 or whatever, but I made the most of what I had, you know, and where I was at was the BCS or the FBS, you you know what I mean? Um I I just took advantage of those things, and I want them to see that and use that as an example to carry on with their lives.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and you've had lots of opportunities at some of your different places, you know. Um, you know, the SWAC is uh is is that's what a great conference, you know, that is. Did did you get to coach against Dion when he was there? Or were would you miss each other?
SPEAKER_00All right, we missed each other. Uh we missed he was gone uh whenever I got back to the SWAC. Yes, sir. All right.
SPEAKER_03So talk a little bit about some of the different schools, uh the levels. Obviously, you've been up in the um in FCS, you've kind of been all over the place um in different levels, but talk about some of the other schools that uh that you've been to.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, uh so Southern Arkansas, we know about that. Uh so I did that was back in 2003. Um, you know, did did my my grad work there. Uh my first full-time job um was at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill, North Carolina. Beautiful area. I was fortunate enough to do two four-year stints there. All right, so I learned under Jonathan Surratt, uh, who's the offensive coordinator there, uh, and he's still there. Uh that staff there at Mars Hill is probably the longest tenured staff uh it might be in the country. Okay. Um because at the time, at the time, the head coach Tim Clifton, he's retired now, but at that time he was there for like 25 years or something or another. I think he did almost almost 35 years there. Wow. Uh if I'm not mistaken. And you don't see that very often anymore. Um, but the defensive coordinator, uh, Coach Kevin Barnett was he was there longer than the head coach. And then the the strength and conditioning coach was there just as long as him. And so you're talking about two decades of uh tenure, you know, by more than just one person.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Wow. You know, so I got there, I stayed there four years. Um, then uh was fortunate enough because we were a pretty good football team. I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity for my first uh offensive coordinator gig at St. Augustine's College in in Raleigh, North Carolina. Um you know, right there in the heart of Raleigh. Uh first first year there, we went 9-2 and first postseason appearance in ever, I think, or something, something like that. Um But that was a unique experience because the athletic director um was the famous Pup Williams, who was a um had 32, at the time had 32 national championships in track and field. Wow. Um and he was uh the head men's Olympic coach uh at one point in time for the USA. Wow. And yeah, it was it was uh a tremendous honor being uh being on that campus with that man. Um so I was at St. Aug, and then I did three years there, went back to Mars Hill because I loved it so much. Um it was up in the mountains, beautiful area, Asheville, North Carolina. Uh if you've never been there, you should go visit. Uh built more states, you know, those things. They're um, you know, great place. Uh after that, I go to North Carolina Central University, uh, where I was the receiver's coach under head coach Jerry Mack, who is now the head coach at Kennesaw State. Um when in 2016 we went undefeated in the MIAC and made it to the Celebration Bowl and lost to Gremlin State in a nail biter. Um do two years, do two years there, then I go to University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff as the offensive coordinator. Um went two and nine our first year, and then we turned it around, went six and five uh the second year. Um, you know, then that was right before COVID, COVID hit. Yeah. Um coach Thomas leaves, things change as far as uh staffing, so I had to look elsewhere for employment, right? Um then I go to Bluefield, West Virginia. Bluefield State, all right, was probably one of my favorite uh favorite jobs because we actually started it from the ground up. Uh we the they use the term we got it out the mud, we really got it out the mud. All right, because the the we helped design the mascot there, the the blue dane. The blue dane, right? And we actually went and bought a live mascot, like they bought the live mascot and we raised it. It was a blue what? Great Dane. Oh, Blue Dane. Yeah, okay. Blue Dane. All right. Great Dane. Uh we raised it up. Uh we, you know, we got it after it was weaned, obviously, but we raised it uh um for about for almost a year. We raised it, and uh he became a huge dog, and then they finally took it and uh got it to where it could become a live mascot, got the training that was necessary, you know, did all those things. We designed the first uniforms. Um we were we helped um the university didn't have dorms because it was a commuter school uh back in the day, right? So the president had the the foresight, right, to buy the hospital. They he he brought football back. His name was Robin Cape Hart, I'll never forget. Brought football back before they had dorms, had a plan to to put up dorms, but they were drilling and doing some things with trying to get the foundation and stuff for the building, and they realized that it was some kind of rock down there that they couldn't get through. So the the site where the the building was gonna be didn't like they couldn't build on it anymore. Okay. Now they probably fixed it now because I think they're like they got some things done, but he bought a hospital. They bought a hospital that was maybe a quarter of a mile away, um, and turned that hospital into a residence hall. All right. Craziest thing. I I kid you not, now I'm gonna just tell you this. I I got plenty of stories.
SPEAKER_02So they but they so they had never had uh football.
SPEAKER_00They had football 40 years ago. Oh, and then they brought it back. At the time, they brought it back after a 41-year hiatus.
SPEAKER_02But they didn't have uh but they did they have other sports? Yeah, they had other sports. And they were also blue Danes.
SPEAKER_00Or no US Blue. The ma the the the mascot was the big blue. Okay, and what we developed the the Blue Dane. Where is and where where is that what where in West Virginia is it? Bluefield, West Virginia. Bluefield shares a sh the state line is West Virginia and Virginia. So there's a Bluefield, Virginia, and a Bluefield, West Virginia.
SPEAKER_02That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00And there's two colleges like five minutes from each other.
SPEAKER_02And they I mean we have uh um one of our well one of our uh competitors that we play in in this conference, uh they started back in 2022. They started in COVID, and that was Mount Mount Marty, I mean Mount Marty started, they had never had football before, stood it up, they had other sports and things like that. But uh so it seems I mean Walters had football since 1920 in one one format. I mean, we were back in the day when they were playing like other like they're at college and they're playing high school teams, you know, just to get six games a year or whatever they were playing, you know. Right. So that that is exciting. I mean, tell us a little bit more about that because how how long were you there?
SPEAKER_00I was there for a whole year. Okay. Okay, a whole year. Um opportunity came that I could be the head coach at the next head coach at Lincoln University in Missouri. Uh so I had to jump all over that uh that opportunity. Um several people told me not to take that job. But again, what am I gonna say about myself? Yeah, I'm gonna bet on myself every single time. Absolutely. Um great experience, great people, uh learned a valuable lesson. Learned I learned some things that are gonna follow me uh for the rest of my existence. And uh it'll make me a better head coach for the next time around.
SPEAKER_02I mean, you stood up a program with uh uh the blue blue blue blue field field. Uh I mean that's that's you had to, I mean, there's lessons that come along with that too. Even when you come into a transition to a and even though the program's been around for a long time, you're still kind of starting starting a whole new program to so what type of things come from that? Yeah, obviously you don't have to pick out a mascot and things like that, but what type of things that you learn at Bluefield you know applies to like you know Waldorf?
SPEAKER_00Well, it's so if you you talk to people that are involved in these types of situations, it's all about establishing the foundation. We call it culture, right? So we're in the process of establishing the culture, and uh Coach Callaway does a really good job of putting the standards down that we expect and uh providing ways for them to gain lessons on how to achieve those those standards, you know. Um everything is a lesson. Everything is a lesson from how we walk across campus to the things that we do in the morning workouts, you know, and sometimes like if you sat back and looked at it, you'd say it's a setup because the m the wheels are always turning. The wheels are always turning, and we seize opportunities to try to teach these guys a lesson. We call it um what moment of privilege. Like that's what we're trying to, we're trying to get those guys to understand the little things. So uh starting from the ground up, paying attention to details and fundamentals, not just on the football field. Well, we're not talking about football right now, we're talking about how to move. You know, we're working out in the turf room. The first thing the thing that we're talking about is how to run more efficiently. Some guys didn't know how know how to run for real. You know, so you gotta start from the ground up, and that's what our strength staff is doing. Um, we're teaching, and that's what we do. We're we're teachers, so we're teaching, and that's what you have to do when you're starting from scratch. You gotta teach because you can't be uh you can't move on to that from that point until you learn how to be efficient in your movements.
SPEAKER_02So does that make um I was trying to count them up as you were telling us. Is this is this your eighth program then that uh or um count Lincoln? I thought so. I was looking at your Wikipedia. Is this eight or nine? One, two, three, four, five, so you and Callaway both have he said this is his eighth sch school as well.
SPEAKER_00I think if you count Mars Hill twice, you can't. Actually, Southern counts once.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Mars Hill, St. Augustine, North Carolina Central. UAPB Bluefield Lincoln Alcorn Waldorf. Yeah. So this is not we gotta we gotta go back to Southern Arkansas because they have the coolest mascot name. Okay, what is it? The Mule Riders. Mule riders.
SPEAKER_00Don't you don't ask me. I mean I don't think I love that. When I was there, we were riders. Yeah. So they dropped the mule. No, no, no, we were always mule riders. Yeah, the short mule riders. Short version uh with the football team, we were just riders. Riders. All right.
SPEAKER_03I liked I saw it and I thought that is that's pretty great. Yeah, really like that. And you know, um, yeah, I just I I like things like that, you know. What were their colors? Or what are their colors? Blue and gold. Blue and gold. Yeah, okay. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, like your stint and Lincoln um for a couple years there. That you walked into a tough conference.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt about it. But um, you know, I'm gonna just tell everybody in the world we didn't win a football game. Okay. We know what that's like. We we didn't win a football game. All right, and we did not win a football game because we were not a good football team. We didn't win a football game because everybody else in the conference were really good football teams. Yeah, I would say you know, so imagine this. Imagine lining up against Northwest Missouri, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh State, Emporia, Emporia, all of those schools with no bye weeks, no out-of-conference games. From the word go, it is conference. It's tough. You know, and so I I'm not and I'm not ashamed of that. Like I'm not ashamed that, you know, we were in the MIAA, which is a really that's you know, the SEC of D2 football. Oh man. And uh I was proud to be part of that conference. I was proud of, you know, Dr. Kevin Wilson for bringing me on. I was uh, you know, it was a great experience. Those those those people that that I met there are still friends to me today.
SPEAKER_03You bet. And so was there any consideration, you know, like obviously, you know, Waldorf, uh small school, and we have were we're biased, but we truly believe that the G PAC in in NAI football is is best in the nation. Did that have any any weight for you in making your decision? Well, I so not really.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Not really. That's fair. Um I'm not uh you know, uh each in each individual opportunity is different, right? So what made me make this decision was Coach Calloway. Nothing else, you know. Um he he asked me if uh, you know, I I reached out to him to congratulate him about the job. And uh I said, I this is my I text him, I said, Coach, you all staffed up? He told me, he said, No, I hadn't done anything. You know, and it was almost like he was surprised that I even consider. Wow. You know, but once we got to talking about it, each time we had a conversation, the more I wanted to come to Waldorf.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. And that I I'm it's a it's a different feeling. You talked, you meant you said the word culture. We've heard it many, many years. I mean, since we've been doing the podcast, we need to change the culture. We need to change the culture, we're working on the culture. Um or improve the culture. Yeah, exactly. And it's not that it was it was I I have seen improvement in um again. This I'm entering my seventh season being part of this team, but um I have seen improvements in the locker room on the sidelines a little bit every year. Um and from from what Coach Callaway says, what you're saying, um, extremely tangible. I'd love the fact that I shouldn't say I love the fact, but it's it's impressive that football is something we're gonna do later. Right now, we're gonna work on um becoming young men that happen to play football. Right. You know, is that your overall philosophy on why you do this?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I I want to affect the the lives of young men in a positive way. Um, you know, these these kids that we deal with, uh it doesn't really matter what institution you're at. Um they need us. You know, they need us, they need uh somebody to because you know lots of lots of these young men don't have families, don't have father figures, don't have one thing or another. Um it's not, you know, sometimes it's not a storybook, right? They don't have two parents, they don't have a uh some of them don't even have a$50,000 a year family income. Right. You know, so they need somebody like us that they can vent to. They need somebody like us that, you know, they can lean on. And quite frankly, they're not gonna they're not gonna care unless they know you care.
SPEAKER_03Right. And that the again, that's the whole reason. And and you and I we only met just today. And uh, I will tell you that, you know, um, I've always said my job when it comes to the the football players is love them unconditionally. Give them and and be there, try to be solid for them. Um, and that's I mean, I that's that's the nice part about my gig with uh with Waldorf football is that I get to be part of it, but I'm not, if you know what I mean. It's like the the X's and O's and all that other stuff, the conditioning and all those other things, that's that is 100% aside from everything that I do. I'm just trying to trying to be there and and like you said, be positive for those young men because it's important. I think it's very important, it's vital to um to what we do um as a program.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. We had all right, coach, we had 15 players come in at the semester. I think it was 15 that Coach Cowley said last week. Um, how many of those are offense and uh and then I'll uh to tag on top of that. Um we had uh we had some receivers leave from the receiver core. How's the receiver core looking? Obviously, you've got uh great insight into what that needs to be, and then um and then our our RQBs too. And I know our offensive line is um you know seeing some people graduate and different things like that, so we've got to build that up. So you got 50 guys on offense right now that you're working with? Let's talk a little bit about that. Yeah, in that range, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh so with with the transfers, uh I believe it's an even split. I believe we seven seven offense, eight defense. Uh on the transfer guys that came in, I believe, uh, and I could be wrong, it could be eight offense, seven defense, uh, but it's right around there, pretty split down the middle. Um, you know, from with the from the way it looks on paper, you know, we've got some potential. All right, but again, we have to evaluate potential to win any games. You know, so we're we're gonna see over the over the course of this next uh 15 opportunities that we get uh across the spring, we're gonna see, you know, who can do what. Um this is a heavy evaluation period for you know for Coach Callaway and I. You know, we're gonna make sure that we kind of we're gonna find out. We're gonna find out. We're gonna find out where the toughness lies. We're gonna find out um you know who really doesn't want to be here, we're gonna find out who really wants to be here. Um all of that will take place over the course of this next three weeks to a month.
SPEAKER_02That's easy. You're gonna move quick on your offense, no huddle. Um uh you've got to have depth. Um, and it's it's I I mean the hardest people to find are linemen, you know, and getting them uh in so so what's the strategy for that too? Because obviously conditioning you mentioned, but I mean those are big boys, so like uh you you run a what what is it what does the O line look like?
SPEAKER_00Um the old the O line, I think we have ten in the fold right now that uh that we can work with. We've got a couple of injuries that uh you know resulted in surgery. Um, but uh I think we have a good solid core group of guys that we can work with uh over the spring. Uh the goal is to teach everybody what to do and then evaluate and find out what the what where the toughness lies, like I said. Um you know, so teach them what to do, don't beat them down into the ground, which means we're gonna take, you know, we're gonna take the pads off of them a little bit so that we can make it. The goal is to get all these horses to the race. Um you know, and that's and with the with the big boys, you know, you have to you have to develop some toughness, you have to find some ways to to be a little grimy with them, uh, but at the end of the day, we can't beat our guys into the ground because um they're precious to us. Yeah. As far as, you know, as far as those big boys. I ain't never been 300 pounds now. Yeah. There's uh there's certain ways you gotta handle those guys. Yeah. Football is a is a tough and it's a rigorous sport, and we gotta make sure their bodies can handle the demands that we're gonna place on them. So it means we have to uh level them up and take the pads off of them sometimes, and that's what we gotta do in order for us to be able to play 60 minutes of football, you know, at a high level.
SPEAKER_03So you with uh you know, you you've been here just a couple months. Um anything surprise you about Waldorf? Anything that was unexpected, like you know, wow, this is a nice surprise, or um, what's your overall feel about you know, the well again, small town, middle of nowhere, small university, is there anything and because you've seen those beautiful parts of the country, and then we got to introduce you to Iowa winners right away, which was nice. Um, what are some of the things that your takeaways, you know, just from that um short time, you know, here in Four City and Waldorf University and the program?
SPEAKER_00Well, so when I first got on campus, the first thing that I saw um was the the coming in to the so I came in by quickstar. I don't know if y'all know where quick star is. So I come across and I pulled into town and it was ice and slush on the road. Um so I stayed at the I stayed at the cobblestone for two nights. Um that morning on my first day of work, I come in and the first thing that I see uh for somehow I ended up going through town and facing the new building. What's the name of the new building right there across from the field house? The Bowman. Bowman Fine Arsenal. So that's the first thing. I look over there and I see Bowman, and then I see the field house, and then I see the stadium, right? I drive over, pull up to the uh DJ, and walk inside D Jack. Go upstairs and see coach. I look around and I'm, you know, I walk up the stairs. First, you see the locker room, you walk in, everything's wrapped all nice and neat, uh, you know, with signage and you know, things like that. I I didn't I hadn't seen the turf room yet. Uh so I walk up the stairs, and the first thing I see is those dog-owned mannequins. They scared the beejee. All right. So, and then for a week and a half, those mannequins scared me because I would I tended to be there late at night. Oh, yeah. So I I come in late at night and it's like, you know, dog on mannequins. All right. So uh I say that to say this. Uh Waldorf University's facilities are much better than I expected to see. Because, you know, I I didn't I didn't come here uh to see the place before I accepted the job. I just said I'm coming. Um and I knew that it had to be okay if coach was here. You know, he's not gonna do anything. Um, you know, he's a he's a stand-up guy. Uh and he kind of gave me the laydown of you know what was what it was when before I got here. Um so I say all that to say this people think that NAIA athletics is less than sometimes. All right. But the truth is Waldorf University has a lot of things that are better than some Division I institutions that I've been a part of. Wow. Wow. I'm just throwing that out there. Now, I'm not saying what it is, who it is, or anything, but I'm saying what I'm saying is that Waldorf University and these athletes should be proud of what they do have and take care of what they do have. Yeah. So, you know, and from what I see, you know, it's you guys do a really good job, and I can see why this would be called the best small college experience on earth. Yeah. Now I haven't experienced the tailgate or anything like that. Well, you will. I know you will, young men. I know that uh, you know, that weight room, Aiden and them do a really good job. I walk in the weight room, there's 16 racks in the weight room. Where do they do that at?
SPEAKER_03You know, and and that's what we talked about this talking to Coach Calloway last week, how refreshing it is for us because you constantly compare yourself against those perennial national champions and those those some of those schools that have a whole pile of money and and they, you know, they have the kind of the prettiest, shiniest stuff. And you kind of look at our stuff, and we all I mean, this is what we're this is what we have is like, yeah, you know, maybe it could be a little bit nicer, maybe the turf field is gonna help a lot. Sure. Um, but it the reality is it's nice to hear from from Coach Callaway and from you, Coach Gales, that you know, hey, we we do have a lot to be proud of, and we are super proud of Waldorf. And uh one of the things that I'm excited for you to experience your first time is um is our game day Saturday at home. Yeah, we think we do something pretty special here. Um, I'll always remember uh two years ago, um, the last game of the season, we played Morningside. Um that went about as you could expect. Morningside's a good football program. And uh uh Coach Ryan is standing on midfield talking to head coach Chop at the time, and and he's like, What what do you guys got going on today? And he's like, What do you mean? He's like, All the people. Saturday coach. And he's like, Really? Yeah. So he just, you know, somebody from Morningside was um was relatively impressed that you know we have at the time we hadn't won a football game and still haven't, but um, in the G Pack at least. That's one of the things we're proud of. We're proud of this community. Uh, we can't wait to show off. Um to you, to to the just to see the whole thing. It it's a it's a new day um with Waldorf football, um, you know, with with Coach Callaway and now Coach Gales. And you know, you have some holes to fill in your staff, um, you know, but that'll come, you know, you get those those pieces in. I'm sure you probably have people in mind and and things like that. And it's that's gonna be exciting to see how it all comes together. That's no concern. Yes, that's right, Coach Callaway. That is no concern. Not a concern.
SPEAKER_02I I uh you know what Andy said is true. I think when you're when you're when I build something uh and um you know somebody looks at it and they go, Oh wow, that's that looks great, you know. And then but I'm like, yeah, well, this corner over here isn't perfectly mitered. I mean, I'm picking out all the things that I know is wrong. So like if you know, if you point that out, they're like, well, I guess I didn't notice that, you know, and so I think that's part of what it is for us, is like you know, we live here, it's our community. I went to both of us went to Waldorf back in the day, and uh, you just you know, you want us to be um as you know as awesome as we as we can be, and so sometimes we just you know don't see the forest for the trees, and it's very refreshing to hear uh you and Coach Callaway said this a similar thing last week. And so that's good for our fan base to hear too. You know, we a lot of good things going on uh at Waldorf. And instead of pointing out the you know, maybe uh uh the poor miter on a corner, maybe we ought to be uh taking a look at the the whole building itself.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. So, coach, one of the things I mean, we we've talked a lot of football, and that's good. What uh what do you do when you're not coaching um football? You got seven grandkids, so that means that's gonna keep you pretty busy. What do you like to do in your spare time if you have any?
SPEAKER_00Well, so I you know, when I whenever I get a chance, I like to get to them, you know, if if I can. Uh I I I love to to spoil those youngsters. Um, you know, Paw Paw is, you know, he's the guy. Paw Paw's the guy. Oh yeah, we all are. Sometimes they get lazy and they just call me Paw. Um, but when they want something, it's Paw Paw. That's awesome. Um, so I I try to get to them as much as I can. Um, I like to uh try to do things that my wife enjoys when when I have free time. Um, you know, whether it be sitting up watching. So we binge watch a lot of TV. Awesome. All right. We've been and the thing we're we're on right now is the Lincoln lawyer. If you haven't watched it.
SPEAKER_03Oh my yeah, I started watching it. My wife was into it, and I haven't watched it, but I I've got yeah, I think I've caught an episode.
SPEAKER_00That's what we're that's what we're doing, you know, when we get a free uh free moment, but uh those those situations are a little few and far between right now, um, just with the rate that we're recruiting. So, you know, it's it's kind of a uh situation where we just have to we gotta get it in when we can. Yeah. Uh, you know, I'm spending a lot more time on the phone with you know with other folks. And uh she's she's okay with it, right? That's good. She knows that we're on a mission uh here. We're going, we're going, we're trying to win some football games.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. So she knows. Do you watch Bridgerton?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_03Me either. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. It might have been on.
SPEAKER_00I might have watched it. Um, I do have a I do have a uh PlayStation 5. So uh You get some time on that. Yeah, no, so I I don't do football though. I don't do I don't do Madden or anything like that or NCAA. I'm a Call of Duty.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, first person. I alright. I mean that's surprising a little bit. Uh I uh I tried Call of Duty and I couldn't, you know how at the beginning of Call of Duty they have um like little like training, you know, like little training before you even start playing Call of Duty, like you had to do like a training exercise, you learn how to operate all the buttons and what you're supposed to do. I could I could I couldn't get through the training, right? Which is very frustrating. Especially for an army guy. Yeah, that well, that's part of what it was. I was I was a little upset about that. I'm not well now to be completely transparent. I was playing that in my army office. So I mean I should have been probably doing other things anyway.
SPEAKER_03Well, one of the things we always like to do too, coach, is is introduce Warrior Nation to your family, uh, six kids, seven grandkids, where are they located, uh, you know, what's life look like for them?
SPEAKER_00Okay. Uh we'll well, I gotta start with the wife of Izzy Gales, and she's here with me in Four City. Um my oldest son is Darius Forrest. He is in San Diego, California. He's in the Navy. Um God bless him. Him him and his wife, Amber. Uh his wife's name's Amber, and his son Carson. Um, he is Carson is one, he's approaching one and a half now, I want to say. Um, yeah, he's a toddler. He's running around. Uh we missed it. We weren't there when we started walking, but uh, we get plenty of video and all that good stuff. And so that's the vacation destination. Uh the next go-around is we're probably gonna end up going to San Diego. Um so that's Darius. Um I have a daughter who is living in Boston right now with her boyfriend and her son, and she's got a bean in the oven. Nice. Um her name is Edastasha uh Forrest. Um I have a daughter named Cassidy Lane. She uh is a graduate of Duke. She went to well, she went to Duke and graduated in three and a half years. Oh and she lives in Rogers, Arkansas. She is a she does what do you call it? Um the word is leaving me.
SPEAKER_03Well, Rogers, she works for Walmart then. That's actually Bentonville, Arkansas. I know what Rogers is. Rogers, yeah, that's the homo. Wasn't it? No, Rogers. She does. Uh
SPEAKER_00Logistics for uh rhino, the propane.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, yeah. Blue rhino.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she does. It's between rhino.
SPEAKER_03Between somewhere, I mean it's north of Little Little Rock.
SPEAKER_00She's gonna listen to this and be so mad at her daddy.
SPEAKER_03No, and that's like I'll tell you, because you said you're down in Fayetteville and you know, the Fayetteville, Rogers, Bentonville, um, Eureka Springs. Not yeah, Eureka Springs is further off, but like that's just such a beautiful area. Uh my wife has vacationed down there, and and uh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we ate at we ate at a place down at Fayetteville that was the best breakfast I've had in a long time.
SPEAKER_02So I'm sorry, coach, didn't mean to interrupt, but I forgot to turn the camera on you. The whole that was just all narrative, just watching his reaction. Do you tell him good?
SPEAKER_00So and so I have I have three boy three boys and three girls, and the next uh young lady is Talasia. Uh Talasia has four children. Um they are Jace, who is ten. Chase is ten, yeah. See, I I got so many. I gotta remember uh Jace is ten. Ava is I wanna say seven, six or seven.
SPEAKER_03You can get yourself in trouble, coach. I'm just telling you right now.
SPEAKER_00No, they they understand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They understand, they know what time it is. Uh I ain't gonna tell them no. Yeah, that's not anything. Yeah, yeah. Right? Okay, so uh and then um Gia is turning three this weekend. Oh man. And Damere, who is just started walking, he is one. Ah, that's great. And yeah, so they're they're in Jeff City, Missouri. So when I got the job at Lincoln, they followed me from Pine Bluff, and then her husband Dirk um was fortunate enough to get a job. He's a welder. Oh, yeah. If anybody needs a welder, I know a really good one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um get him up here. Yeah, we can uh find something for him, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. They uh they followed me to Jeff City and he's doing really well for himself. Yeah, that's awesome. Welders do great. I mean, if you're a good welder. I mean, he works for Modine. Y'all ever heard of Modine? I don't think I have uh I think they make uh they make like radiators or something, okay. Or air conditioner units or something like that. Something important um that you know he works a lot and makes a pretty good living. Good for him. Um my son Devon, who uh uh you may see here, he's applied to school here. Oh, excellent. He's got a little more, he's got a little bit of eligibility left, I think. We're gonna keep that on the hush right now. Yeah. Uh you know, and then uh my son Braden, who uh just uh got married, uh not too long, he's got a son on the way. Um so that's that's where I went this past weekend and uh came back to a blizzard. Yeah. So and they're they're all in the Arkansas area. So Rogers, Arkansas, um Fettville, you know, um, and then Jeff City, Missouri. Yeah, and then Boston, and then San Diego. So that's where my young'uns are, and uh all their kids. I can't keep up with them. Pretty soon I'm gonna have 10 or 12 grandkids, and then it's gonna be jealous. So two of my two of my kids haven't started having kids yet. So I've already got that many, and I still I'm still waiting on two.
SPEAKER_02Nice. That's great. Coast to coast and a whole bunch in the middle. That's nice.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it like I I it would be more than wonderful to have your whole family up here sometime this fall to to watch you coach and get to know them and see you know, see the little ones screaming for papa on the sidelines. Yeah, that'd be awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but they ain't gonna be screaming for paw. They're gonna be doing some other stuff. They might be running around tackling folks. If you don't, if you want to pick up football game, just turn them loose down there in the end zone somewhere, and you'll get a good pick-up football game. And it ain't gonna be no flag, it's gonna be, you know. Hold on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's great. Yeah, because all you gotta do is throw them into the tailgate, and uh there's all sorts of kids down there tossing uh all around uh boys, girls, the whole whole work. So they're they'll fit in just like uh that round peg that we talk about. Cool. Well, one of the things we always like to do, coach, is uh um since we've uh we've gone past our hour, which is great. See, I shouldn't have started rambling. No, no, absol no, it do no, that's this is awesome. Um yeah, this is gonna be another great episode. Um, but we always like to give our guests that that last word, whether you want to say something to the family, the fans, the staff, the players, or everybody, or anything like that. Um, so yeah, we just kind of put you on the spot. So um we're gonna give you the last word as we wrap up this episode of the podcast, coach.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, uh really what I what I would like to say to Warrior Nation is be patient. We're gonna do some things that uh may seem a little unordinary, but we're setting the foundation for where we're gonna put the bar.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. I'm looking forward to it. Well, it's great. Uh, folks, you got to know uh Coach Jermaine Gales just a little bit. Um the the proof is gonna be in the pudding um as as we navigate through spring ball that starts on Monday. Um that's gonna be exciting to just gonna see how you know how everything that you've done comes together. Um it's gonna be a lot of fun. Um and then of course we'll have the summer and just the anticipation of of fall. Um and the more that we do these podcasts, the more excited we all get. I mean, so it's gonna be it's gonna be wonderful. So I think that's gonna do it for this episode of the Waldorf Grid Iron Club Podcast. Thank you everybody for taking some time out of your day and uh getting to know uh Coach Jermaine Gales. Um I hope you're excited because we sure are. Well, that's it, Troy. Absolutely. That's right. So for Troy Thompson, this is Andy Buffington, and forever and always, go Warriors.
SPEAKER_01You can join the Waldorf Gridiron Club and be part of the best small college football experience teams on the network. 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.
