#68 Ernie Millard - A Journey of a Coach, a Father, and a Mentor

What if you had the chance to sit down with a revered wrestling coach, who's not just a mentor to many but also a proud father to a state champion? That's exactly what we've got in store for you with our guest, Coach Ernie Millard, who has a fascinating tale to tell packed with insights, lessons, and personal experiences. Be prepared to be inspired as he candidly shares his journey through a unique year as he transitions to the empty-nest stage, recalls the thrill of witnessing his son win a state championship and reminiscences about his own adventures growing up as a Pacific Northwest kid.

Ernie's passion for sports and his early experiences growing up in small towns have shaped his life and career significantly. It was these influences that led him to forge a path in teaching and coaching, right from his teen years. Be it his time with Coach Carl Adams at Boston University, his father's struggle with Alzheimer's, or the challenges of the college recruitment process; Ernie's story is filled with trials, triumphs, and poignant experiences. He shares the importance of recognizing when it's time to step back as a coach, especially when it came to his son Charlie, and the crucial role of family support networks and parental involvement in youth sports.

A key part of Ernie's narrative revolves around his son Charlie's wrestling journey. From teaching him the right values to navigating the college recruitment process, Ernie offers an insightful look into the world of youth sports from a parental perspective. Hear about Charlie's wrestling goals, the decision-making involved in redshirting, and how Ernie sought to balance being both a parent and a coach. As we wrap up the episode, we reflect on the lessons learned and look ahead at upcoming events. So, put on those headphones and get ready for an episode that not only delves into the world of competitive sports but also uncovers the heartwarming tale of a father and his champion son.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:13

rhythmic rock music.

Speaker 2: 2:12

Coach Millard with us. This is our first go around here. I don't think it's going on YouTube right now. I just told me that it's not live. I don't care, it's fine, it's on Facebook. So if everybody's on Facebook land, we're here with coach Ernie Millard. The homestead had wrestling coach and Charlie's dad how you doing.

Speaker 3: 2:29

I'm doing. Well, I'm gonna pick on you for one second. Brad Just felt my name wrong. I did no, you did that, you did that you type that in so I change it. I don't know how to change it.

Speaker 3: 2:40

It's up there, this is that makes sense at my age in retirement that I can't even spell my own name right anymore. It's all good, so there will be. It's when you say that After being in the town. I've been in as long as I have my wife when she's with me. So I was like, oh, this is, this is Ernie and Ernie's wife. And we've gotten to the point in the world now when it's like oh, you're Charlie's dad. He says that's poetic justice after 34 years of teaching in the same school districts.

Speaker 2: 3:08

That's awesome. It's really nice to be here.

Speaker 3: 3:10

Thanks for the invite.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Yeah, man, it's, it's great to have you here and you know, I know that there was supposed to be a match and things like that, but we, I wanted to bring you on anyways, because you're having kind of a special year this year, right like it's, it's, it's something that's that's been talked about, I'm sure in your household for a minute you got to kind of figure those things out. But you're gonna be, you're gonna be kind of on a end of a trip, right yeah for sure.

Speaker 3: 3:34

You know we, we have three kids and Charlie's yeah, so there's gonna be a lot. We're gonna be empty nesters. Oh, you know, year two and and and certainly I've gotten. I've gotten to live the last Three years, honestly, of Charlie's high school career, kind of, I think, a dream that every dad who coaches or every parent who coaches wishes for. Right, like, yeah, I got to sit on the side of the mat when my son won a state championship last year and you know I talked to friends of mine who you know I'm kind of the old guy in in the coaching circles now, and my, my friends who have young kids, you know I they talk about all the time. Like man, I hope I get that same opportunity someday and and yeah, and also appreciating that it doesn't happen all the time.

Speaker 2: 4:24

Right, correct, and that's so to me, with, with what you're going through and what you and you've been through, I mean we're gonna get into that more, but it seems like a lot of what you have built I mean, because you're again, we're gonna talk about it too is you weren't just in wrestling but you've kind of built this History, you know, like a legacy. A legacy, I mean, for lack of a better term, but what are, what are your thoughts on, on when you started in sports, like, where did you get started?

Speaker 3: 4:53

So I, I'm a Pacific Northwest kid born and raised out in the state of Oregon, okay, washington. I was born in 64. So I'm the last of the baby boomers, you know when, and I'm a history teacher. So that's the kind of stuff we pay attention to, right? I grew up in really, really small towns until I was about 12 or 13 years old, okay, and, and people will say small towns, but I lived in Willard, washington, up in the Cascade Mountains. That had 33 people in it.

Speaker 3: 5:20

Nice yeah okay, my dad worked for the Forest Service. He was, you know, a GS3, as they call. They have government service ratings. He was, you know, he was working in a big national for us, the Sayousa National Forest, and okay, um, and so until I was about four, you know, we we lived in a town where we didn't couldn't get a radio station. If the, if the weather was good, you know, you could get three TV stations back then, for the public broadcasting system came on. I mean, I'm so old that I remember when Sesame Street started, right, yeah, yeah, ernie and Ernie and Bert show up in 1969 on Sesame Street. But I mean, we were in a town where, you know it, looking back on it, we didn't have much. We had to figure out stuff to do, right, and I grew up I loved to fish, grew up loving to fish and and being outside all the time. Then we moved to to the Lamont Valley in Oregon, really outside of Corvallis, okay, and then when I was 12, we moved to a suburb of Portland.

Speaker 3: 6:23

So my upbringing was small towns, always loved sports. Yeah, my dad's from Pennsylvania, so he loved wrestling. I mean, when we talk about high school wrestling, it's Pennsylvania, honestly, and every other state when, right, when you look at that, not just the success but the numbers of kids are doing it. Right, this blue collar. So she wanted to introduce me to wrestling. I grew up loving baseball. I played baseball my whole life. I Played soccer as I got older. I ran cross country my senior year and and frankly, I wasn't great at any of them. Yeah, I I was. I was really little. I matured late. I grew as 5-4 when I graduated from high school. Oh, wow, and okay 130 pounds.

Speaker 3: 7:11

Wow, okay, I was really tiny, but I always, I always, loved sports. Yep, and you know, when I was a kid, baseball was the one sport you could get on TV on Saturdays. My dad and I would watch it. We didn't have a full an NFL team in Oregon. The Seahawks came up in Seattle later, correct. So I remember the first football game I ever watched was the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs in that epic playoff game, I think in 71, and from that day on I was a Miami Dolphins fan until I moved to Wisconsin, right.

Speaker 3: 7:45

Oh, but yeah, I just grew up loving sports. My sister and I would play with football, we In the yard we go play with our buddies, and so I had an appreciation for a lot of sports. I Didn't really specialize in anything. I started to specialize in wrestling a little bit, spending more time in it didn't have the same kind of opportunities that our kids have today oh my god, to be good. But. But grew up always loving sports and have always kind of been fanatical about them.

Speaker 3: 8:15

Moved out here to Wisconsin in December of 85. My family had moved out my mom and dad and my brother. My sister was at Vanderbilt University at the time. My brother Ethan's, 12 years younger than me at the time. I didn't get along great with my dad and and but and I came out here because I missed Ethan Okay, okay, because he was in the fourth grade at the time. Yeah, my dad wasn't really excited about me going into education. I wanted to be a teacher the time I was working and I remember I called him and said I really want to come out to Wisconsin, would love it if I could live with you guys while I go to school to save some money, but the only deal is I'm gonna be in it. I want to be a teacher. That's what I want to be.

Speaker 3: 9:02

I want to be an educator. I knew it. I loved right kids. I said, if that's okay with you, I'm gonna come out and he federal expressed to me an application to UWM which back then, you know, federal express wasn't, wasn't as common as it is now, and that was his way of saying yeah, we want you to come back right and so I came out and I had out of high school.

Speaker 3: 9:24

I graduated in 82. I'd gone to Boston University. Yeah, I walked on the wrestling team there. Yeah, I was super, super immature as a student and Probably wasn't ready to handle the rigors of that. I didn't turn 18 until a late September of my freshman year in college. So, okay it, it was one of the most important things that ever happened in my life because I met Carl Adams, who was a two-time NCAA champ from Iowa State. He was my coach. Nice, okay, okay. I Went from a town in Oregon Tiger, to Oregon that was not a diverse population at all to living in the city of Boston. Okay, early 80s. And and Carl was. It's funny, I saw Carl at the NCAA championships when we were down in Tulsa the spring. Yeah, I got to chat with him and he's really good friends with mr Carr Nate cars. Yep, yeah.

Speaker 3: 10:20

And we chatted and Carl was the first black male I ever knew and you were from.

Speaker 2: 10:26

You were from some of the northern areas. So yeah, was not the area, and going to it's until you know.

Speaker 3: 10:32

Well. Well, while school wasn't a success for me and end up leaving, you know, dropping out after a year and a half and my time with him, you know, I said to him you, you helped make me the man I am and helped me Understand things. One of the things about growing up in Oregon was I didn't really have the opportunity to, to, to form any stereotypes in my mind about anything, and and so, carl, really we had a really diverse team five black guys, five white guys. Yeah, the city that was really racially divided and ethnic divided.

Speaker 2: 11:05

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:06

So I learned some incredible life, a lot of lessons about people.

Speaker 2: 11:10

So not strange at that time, but with with the things that you went through like you're talking about your dad before, with sports and how you know he came from PA and wrestling was big when you started getting into sports. We talk about this a lot with a lot of the guys that we have on here because it's important. I mean. So what kind of what kind of coaching or what kind of Support unit did you have, as, like you said, you didn't have the opportunities that you did. You know, obviously, that the kids have. Now, what was it? Was your dad coaching you through a lot of stuff? Was that? Was that?

Speaker 3: 11:40

interesting that if my dad never coached me, he didn't wrestle at all. Okay, he, he'd help out with baseball a little bit here and there. He he didn't coach me. My first wrestling experience was in in Shed. You know this little town called Shed, oregon, right?

Speaker 2: 11:58

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:00

And the guy down the road, one of my buddies, marty Benedict. His dad was the head wrestling coach at Central Lynn High School, yeah, and he just came and picked me up one day and said we're going to YMCA wrestling practice, right? Mm-hmm, it was a couple times a week and I was like, okay, I'm a wrestler now, right. And we went and and I, I think I went to practice for two weeks and then I wrestled my first match and I won. And my grandfather, who Charlie's named after, who I was really close with, was in town and I came back and I'm like this is easy, grandpa.

Speaker 3: 12:31

I said to him I think I was like six or seven, yeah yeah in the next week we went and this kid just Beat me into the ground right, and my grandpa was there and he was like, not so easy as you thought, is it right? So my dad that was interesting because Most people you're gonna hear their dads were really about my mom and dad were really supportive. They were at everything Okay, because you're sure, and this much stuff Okay, but they left well enough alone. They he did for the most part ever. Yeah, he got.

Speaker 3: 13:04

My dad could could be a little bit over the top sometimes. He wanted me to win, sure, and, and I was. I was definitely an above average wrestler in high school, but I wasn't a great wrestler by any means. Yeah, and and a bunch of family members came in to watch us wrestle. A team that was defending state champ and I had a state runner up in that match in that meet and it was really close for a while and he launched me, threw me to my back and I eventually fought off and I think the final Smo was like 13 to 8 or something.

Speaker 3: 13:32

Okay, you know, okay, giving up a five-point move and and he was, he was pissed at me. You know, in part sometimes we live vicariously through our kid and, and you know, the rest of the family wasn't too pleased with him with that reaction. All dads have that every once in a while, of course, but you know, as as I got older, that support never ended. I was the head baseball coach at homestead for 26 years and I coached like 800 and Like 60 games or 850 games or something like that, and I think my dad was at 800 of them Nice.

Speaker 2: 14:10

Well, okay, okay, that makes sense, it makes always there, just always there.

Speaker 3: 14:15

Yeah, my dad is Really struggling with Alzheimer's the last two years, okay.

Speaker 3: 14:22

Yeah and and it's. It's an incredibly painful and awful disease. But when, when he was starting to struggle with it, charlie was a sophomore and I wanted dad to be around, right, I wanted to take him to stuff, and it was funny. The school district said well, that's fine, but we have to do a background check on your dad if he's gonna ride in the van with the team, right, because we're at this point, we're driving, so I, so the school district does a background check on my dad, and I had to have him made as a volunteer assistant coach in order to travel with the team insurance.

Speaker 3: 14:59

I get it yeah and so we drive up to Nina and he would you know he'd tag along with me and sit in the chair when the kids were wrestling. That's awesome.

Speaker 3: 15:07

And and the coaching community is really tight knit, right. There's times where you're you're irritated with the guy across them, but really tight knit. And I remember we were at the slinger tournament that was the first tournament of the year and he came with me, my wife, my wife brought him so he could be with us and you have your coach's lunch, right? I'm like, yeah, you're on the staff, you get to come have lunch with us, and so a bunch of my buddies are sitting there and I'd given them a heads up. Hey, you know, dads, he's struggling a little bit, he's starting, and so he starts telling them stories about his wrestling career. Right, he never wrestled in his life. Never.

Speaker 3: 15:48

I was like, oh boy, but it, it, it was such a, it was such a wonderful thing for him to be around great people and my buddies, they just love, they loved it like they. Just then, every time we go to a tournament they would try and feed into that more right, and dad does have a great time Um so yeah, my.

Speaker 3: 16:07

You know, that's the biggest thing supportive. They were both there the last two, you know, last two years, when charlie was wrestling for a state title in madison. As sister came in from pennsylvania. Um, my brother lives in town. He was there. Um. Maggie was living out in in corvallis at the time as sister and she flew in Both. You know, I mean it's just been. You have a great family.

Speaker 2: 16:30

You have a great family.

Speaker 3: 16:32

Um, I have a great family and, and charlie has a support network that very few kids are are fortunate enough to have. Right, that's great, that's good. You talk about the journey we're on and, and we're at that point where that journey for lisa and I and and this part of the family support network is going to kind of end pretty soon. Sure, we're. We're gonna have to hand them off, and lisa and I were talking about it saturday. Um, I'm giving my wife a shout out. It's our 20th wedding anniversary today. She's letting me be on a podcast.

Speaker 2: 17:07

That's I, thank you. Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 17:10

We went up, we went up to door county for the weekend, that's cool. And, and we're talking about it saturday and and she was talking about, well, charlie, charlie's gonna be at minnesota pretty soon and a couple tiers, you know, started started to flow and and, um, she and charlie are are crazy tight. Um, it's. It's a really special relationship for me as a dad to watch. But you know, we, we're really fortunate. Both sets of grandparents have looked in the community and gotten, gotten to see them. Yeah, um, we're, we're financially in a place where we could afford to send them to ask.

Speaker 3: 17:43

And wrestling academy yeah, um, you know. And charlie's story I love his story because, um, he, he's been there for 12 years now but he didn't walk into the sport being good at it. Sure, sure, yeah, um, we were able, as, as he was getting older, to hire a nutritionist. Um, take the hat off and show the bald head for a while. I don't hope the reflection's not too bad. It's not bad, you know. And part of wrestling is this is weight management, right, yeah, um, and he, um, he was struggling a little bit with it leading into his freshman year. At the end of the year he qualified for the state championships right, and his weight. It was a struggle at times with him, and as much as I wanted to help, I just didn't have the answers. And so a good friend of mine who was a college athlete and nutritionist, trevor Kim, was kind of breaking ground in that area, and so we hired him. We were fortunate enough to be able to afford it, and it made a gigantic difference in Charlie's life, so he got that support. Now we were able, during COVID, to purchase a weight set form right, where he couldn't get anywhere and where weights were going from a dollar a pound to $3 a pound, but we were able to do that for him.

Speaker 3: 19:10

That's cool, and I always tell kids in my classroom or on my team or in our house I never want you to feel guilty for the good things you have. I want you to appreciate them, though, and understand that sometimes other people don't get to do that. We are fortunate. My wife's father is partners with Ted Kellner, who's one of the top donors at the University of Wisconsin, and Ted has a suite at the Cole Center, and so we get to buy tickets to sit in Ted's box at the Cole Center, which is the best seat in the house right, awesome. And my buddies are always yapping at me and I'm like what are you talking about? I have to pay more for my ticket than you do. And they're yelling at me and going yeah, please, we'll trade you anytime, but just being able to put all my family and friends and my other wrestlers, parents and stuff in a place where they can enjoy that camaraderie, where it's not a little thing when you put everything else together.

Speaker 2: 20:15

Correct and the Cacona's got. We have a box that's up there too and it does kind of and you think about it too, because these kids are at a tournament and it's crazy, and a lot of times you only have the spots to sit down and you're not really removed from the craziness. I know the athletes and the coaches have the areas down below where the spectators can't go, things like that, but you can at least go up to a nonchalant area and hang out with the families that are up there, the other wrestlers. So it's definitely a benefit, definitely a benefit.

Speaker 3: 20:46

He's gotten a lot of support that's allowed him to be successful. Good, looking back, when Charlie started as a little kid, lisa and I really exposed him to almost everything when he was little. He loved being outside and he's right-handed, but he swings a golf club and a baseball bat left-handed.

Speaker 2: 21:13

Liam is the same way with certain things Correct.

Speaker 3: 21:16

And, interestingly, when kids are little, kids are right-eyed, dominant, and so they naturally are going to turn to when a ball is in front of them. They're going to turn so that they would be swinging left-handed and I'd been around sports enough, right? Well, I'm the head baseball coach at home, said I'm like, if I get a left-handed hitter here, you know who want you know? And so he'd just go around the lot yard with his little golf club or his little bat and hit.

Speaker 3: 21:43

But we exposed him to tennis and swimming and wrestling and baseball and it was interesting. The one that he was worse at was wrestling, but that was the one that he fell in love with.

Speaker 2: 21:56

Here you are. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 3: 22:01

And we started with the ninja's course out in Arrowhead. At the time John Messonbrink was running it and, like I said, lisa and John went to college together and we knew him and so I took him out and Charlie loved it with John and then Max opened his academy up about four months in. So we finished ninjas with John and came to Mechwan because I preferred to drive 10 minutes over 50 minutes and Max actually wasn't running the ninja's class at the beginning and Charlie didn't love it and I'm like I just want you to give it a try. Max is going to take over here a little bit. Yeah, that's a relationship now that I say this all the time After his relationship with his immediate family, the most important person in Charlie's life is Max and I'm really I can be so happy about that for so many reasons Not a great dude.

Speaker 3: 22:59

I mean we look back and we you know he's had a lot of success. He's going to college to wrestle. He's getting opportunities at lots of but big 10. But Max is wrestling. I still shake my head sometimes when I watch that and my kid's going to be a big 10 wrestler right, like wow and talking about what I'm talking about? I think about all the time because Charlie was Lisa gets irritated with me, but he was kind of a chunky little guy right, had high energy. He was like me, couldn't maintain his focus on anything for more than about 10 seconds. And when there were games where he was the only ninja in that class with Max when he first opened the academy and no kid in the academy started to grow, yeah, and Charlie was the worst wrestler in that room of like 20 kids for a while, and if Max came on he would say it too. There's a multitude of reasons, right, like he was something. Ben Askren.

Speaker 3: 23:57

Yeah, ben talks about it all the time. Right, I saw a couple of Ben's report cards when he was little that he kept and I'm not kidding you, the teacher was like has a hard time holding still Last motor function, four-time NCAA finalist, right Two-time Hodge Trophy winner Lacking, lacking motor function and skills and I'm like, well, I'm glad he hung onto that.

Speaker 2: 24:24

Yeah, right, right.

Speaker 3: 24:25

His dad's a good friend of mine and he keeps all this stuff, and so we would bring it out and show it to me.

Speaker 2: 24:30

That's funny, that's funny.

Speaker 3: 24:32

But for Lisa and I, and looking back on it, if I could script it how I wanted, this is how it would be Him having those struggles when he was young, because he learned to like the sport for what it was Going to practice and being with Max. That makes sense.

Speaker 3: 24:52

Because we didn't go to a lot of tournaments. I think he wrestled 15 to 20 matches those first two years he started competing. He trained for two years. Then we started competing and remember we went to the West Bend tournament the West Bend Wildcats tournament and he won the first match he ever wrestled, got a takedown, turped the kid put him on his back and I'm like dad's like yeah, this is awesome. And then he did not want to match for two years after that. Not two weeks, Not two months two years Wow, ok, ok.

Speaker 3: 25:23

The second kid that he wrestled that day. You may have heard of him. His name is Conor Marisola. Never heard of him. I don't know who that guy is, and that was Conor's first tournament too.

Speaker 2: 25:33

Oh, no kidding, that's awesome, that's a cool story.

Speaker 3: 25:36

That's the Wildcats tournament, and I remember one of my best friends who was actually a wrestler for me and now, years later, decades later, he was one of my best friends. He was being really supportive and he came to a tournament with Lisa and I. We were sitting in the stands and things were not going well for Charlie, as he would shoot and then the kid would sprawl and get the takedown in.

Speaker 3: 26:00

Danny looked at me and he goes. I don't know where he goes. Maybe debate or forensics is the place for Charlie to go. And Danny loves Charlie so much that he flew out after his freshman year to Fargo. He wanted to go to Fargo with us.

Speaker 3: 26:18

So, he flew out to go to Fargo with us and actually he drove out there with me. What am I saying? He ended up flying home. But he was sitting next to me when Charlie beat Angelo Ferrari in the round of 16 after his freshman year. And that was one of those matches where you're in the Fargo dome and there's 5,000 or 6,000 people packed in there and that was the fourth round of the night at the time and they know who Angelo Ferrari is. Right, right, everybody does so, ferrari family is a great family of wrestling.

Speaker 3: 26:56

They really like being in the spotlight and when you have the success that they've had and you like being in it, you're going to get that. It's funny. I watched Angelo's interview with Caden Henshel after who's number one. He did a great interview and sometimes we don't like people because they're flamboyant and I found myself going I like this kid, he's a competitor and maybe I don't like the showmanship a little bit at the end of matches. But I listened to him, I got done and I was like I like this kid, I think he's going to be really, really, you know, I mean he already is.

Speaker 2: 27:44

They're feeding into the environment. You know the feeling of winning and probably people don't like you in two and see you feeding and there's excitement in it and I think it helps wrestling.

Speaker 3: 27:54

I mean so Charlie's down to nothing at the end of the first period and then he got a tilt and it's 2-2. And he's winning on criteria and all of a sudden every person in the Fargo Dome is now paying attention to Matt number 21,. Right, like who is this kid? Yeah, and Charlie ended up winning 6-2, got two takedowns and it kind of put him on the mat. And anyway, danny was sitting next to me and I'm jumping up and down like Steve Martin in Parenthood after his kid gets that game-winning hit. I'm out of control up in the stands like losing my mind. I calm down and I sit down and Danny goes. It's a good thing you didn't decide to send him into forensics and debate or anything.

Speaker 2: 28:41

Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe. Before we get too far we got to get back onto you two here.

Speaker 3: 28:50

So I mean to your point, my life is really. It's really changed a lot since Charlie began to elevate what he was doing. But I started, I went to UWM. If you want to backtrack, I started there in December of 86, or January of 86. And to put things in perspective, I had $750 I brought with me from Oregon, Holy cow and. I signed up for 18 credits at UWM and that cost me $695 in January of 1986. Now it's like $695 a credit.

Speaker 2: 29:28

Yeah, just for a page out of a book.

Speaker 3: 29:30

At lots of places right and worked my way through school and ended up at Homestead Student Teaching.

Speaker 3: 29:39

Kind of by happenstance, I was scheduled to be student teaching in Milwaukee and I waited on a table at a restaurant in Mechwan on the principal and his wife and John Box, who ended up being our superintendent, who I'm still really close with, and his wife Gail, liked me and she made him call UWM the next morning I waited on him on a Sunday night and he called UWM and I ended up student teaching at UWM. And then, as I was teaching student teaching, I got offered a job as an assistant softball coach at Homestead for Dave Keele. Dave Keele is one of the most legendary coaches in the history of the state Six state championships as a football coach. He's the only coach that I know of and I'm pretty sure I'm right that's in the Hall of Fame in both football and softball in the state of Wisconsin. Oh wow. So he hired me and I ended up getting the JV job for baseball that summer, got a part-time job at Homestead after that. I've never left Homestead since spring of 1989.

Speaker 2: 30:46

You mentioned Boston College, though Boston U, Boston U OK.

Speaker 3: 30:50

I was a terrier, OK yep, yep, yep.

Speaker 2: 30:53

Those are me.

Speaker 3: 30:53

Yeah, I was out there in fall of 82. Ok, I wrestled there for Carl. I remember like I mean, I was an above average wrestler in high school and that was it. I never even made it to the state tournament Same here.

Speaker 3: 31:08

But for some reason I picked up the paper one day, the school paper, and it said we're looking for wrestlers at Boston University and Coach Adams phone number was in there and I called him and I said tell me what college wrestling's about. And he said well, you've got to come in and talk to me. And so I went into his office and here I am, a 17-year-old kid, I'm 3,000 miles from home and I could just tell what kind of a person was he. And he was looking at me and he's like what weight class are you? And they had had a three-time conference champ who just graduated back then and I think we were the Eastern Athletic Conference at the time and at the time the conference champions had an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament at the time.

Speaker 3: 32:01

And you know, carl is great. He was teammates with Dan Gable. He was a little younger than Dan Gable but he was teammates with Dan Gable and was just outstanding and he had gone from the University of Connecticut to Boston University the year before and brought some couple guys with him Mike Enzin and Todd Giles, who were team captains of mine when I was there. Okay, and I'm like I'm gonna go out for wrestling not having a clue, right, yeah, and it. You know, it was crazy experience, not understanding what you're getting into.

Speaker 3: 32:39

And then you're there and right right and I was, I think I was all in seven and then I lost a match and I was kind of beside myself. I wasn't good. I felt like I was letting the team I made the varsity Like there were a bunch of us that wanted to be the varsity 118 pounder right and the one thing I was that kid that, as Carl said, I just I didn't quit, I just didn't quit. I wasn't very skilled, I was terrible on my feet. I was pretty good at getting away and I was really. I was really tough on top. I was a leg writer. So if you got underneath me.

Speaker 3: 33:20

I could be really competitive and and even at the collegiate level I was okay at getting away. I just so bad on my feet Like my junior in high school I think I was 13 and all at one point in time and I got taken down to start matches 12 times. My coach was just like, oh my God, but I just didn't quit and didn't quit and we were at a tournament at the Coast Guard Academy, yeah, and you know, this was before tech falls too. They didn't even have tech falls back then. Really, this guy was just pasting me. It was like 12 to nothing or something like that. And, yeah, I was so bad that he was disgusted with me and he like jacked me off the side of the mat and I bring it up, because it was. It was when everything changed. Like, yeah, I got up and I was mad Okay, this guy is insulting me. And I ended up losing 14 to 13 in that match, and not bad match. And Carl looked at me and he said Welcome to the team, like he saw. The light switch went on, right, yeah, so I think I was at the time, maybe I was one and eight or one and nine and I ended up 10 and 10 and 12 that year, oh wow.

Speaker 3: 34:36

And I was lost in the in the and it was the New England conference, that's what it was in wrestling Lost in the New England Conference Championships to a guy who'd beat me 16 to nothing, eight to five, and I was actually down six, five and gave up a takedown. It was trying to get a takedown late, okay, and lost. So I came one take that away from being at the NCAA tournament. Yeah, I would absolutely have been the number 32 seed, make no mistake about it. In that tournament they didn't have 33 then either. You know, now they have 33 guys in a row, yeah, 22. But that's crazy. But it was such a great experience for me traveling with those guys.

Speaker 2: 35:15

Todd was one of my friends on the team and you're 17 years old out there and you're in athletics and things like that. But like what, what are you doing, especially in that time? What are you guys doing for free Free time? Like what do you guys?

Speaker 3: 35:26

So I was actually in naval ROTC out there too, so I had wrestling, naval ROTC and school and I was doing, you know, was learning life lessons as a guy who was really, really immature, yeah. And so there was no free time, there was zero, but that was okay, because when you're in a room with those guys, I mean all my free time was spent with them, right.

Speaker 2: 35:51

Okay.

Speaker 3: 35:52

And I loved them and they loved me. And you know, in the wrestling room love meant sometimes you're screaming at each other and throwing tantrums and and, but then you get. You know you make weight and you get in the. You know you go get something to eat or you get in the van and you go somewhere. And you know I remember all those guys really, really well and you know that was like I said.

Speaker 3: 36:15

I left there in December of 83. 13 years later I was out in Boston visiting a cousin of mine, go to Boston University and tour the campus, and I walked into the athletic center and coach Adams was in his office and I walked in and he looked up at me after 13 years and said Ernie, and gave me a huge hug. That's awesome, that's very cool and it's funny. I remember not being very good and feeling like I let the team down and I left and all he remembered was I was this kid who got better and and did what I could to to help the team and Well, and you guys had that team family environment.

Speaker 3: 36:58

I mean, you guys were one each other.

Speaker 2: 37:01

You're growing up with each other.

Speaker 3: 37:02

You guys are going through a lot, you know so, but that we're the only one championship that year and I think our second or third year in a row, and you know, I scored a lot of points for the team. And, yeah, I remember us getting ready for the semifinals against a kid that I had lost to earlier in the year and and Carl was getting me ready, you know, and I wasn't even supposed to be in the semifinals and I'm like I remember, like this, I'm like coach, I'm gonna pin this guy, I'm gonna stick this guy, and Carl was like let's just, let's just stay the course and get a takedown here, right.

Speaker 2: 37:35

Smart man, smart man and I did, I pinned the guy. Nice the finals.

Speaker 3: 37:40

Nice, very good, and he just, he just grinned at me and yeah, he's, he's such a great person and you know, he's the inventor of the Adam takedown machine, the one that they had on the wall. Yes, really, that's my, that's my coach, and he was one of the first coaches to come out with videos, back when it was video cassettes. Yeah, yeah, he was kind of a revolutionary and he always told us he he would dream of stuff at night and he kept a notepad next to his bed and he would wake up and write stuff down and his wife would get mad at him for having the light on. Well, he's right, because he said, if I wait till tomorrow morning, I'm gonna forget it. So the Adam takedown machine he dreamt of.

Speaker 2: 38:19

Wow, wow.

Speaker 3: 38:21

Yeah, that's amazing yeah.

Speaker 2: 38:22

That's. You know, honestly, when I see one of those things back like you don't see a much anymore. But when you see him in a wrestling room you're like man, this room's been through some stuff like holy cow, it's been around. So when you're, when you're going through that with that coach, so too were you. Were you picking up on coaching as you were going through that process? Because I mean, looking at the history that you have coaching now, were you showing interest in that, even as an athlete?

Speaker 3: 38:47

Yeah, I think so, like I, like I said, I was really little. I wasn't a good baseball player at all, but I loved being around baseball and I think I think my sitting sitting. Thank God they came up with aluminum benches, or I'd still have splinters in my hinders, I think. But you know I was a guy like I wanted something to do. Yeah, people who know me well realize I'm a little bit hyperactive and I need stuff to do right to channel my enthusiasm. So I keep the book and I would, you know, I'd go out and take ground balls with guys, or I'd be the guy running out to throw to the right field, or you know, and, and so I absolutely think that side of it getting, you know, looking back in interest back, getting getting the opportunity to observe a lot was important for me. I always, I always liked like even when I'd gotten out of high school and I'd stopped going to BU and I was looking for something to do I always liked working with kids.

Speaker 2: 39:47

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 39:48

And I wasn't very old I think I was 19 at the time and my high school coach had retired, but his assistant. They needed a youth or elementary school coach. Okay, and so he said, ernie, I want you to give this a shot, this will be good for you. And he did. I went and coached elementary school wrestling and then I started coaching youth baseball. You know, back in Oregon we were in the Little League program.

Speaker 2: 40:16

Okay, so you're doing it already back there.

Speaker 3: 40:18

Yeah, I was. I was 19, I was coaching Little League baseball.

Speaker 2: 40:21

Okay.

Speaker 3: 40:22

And and it was just something I really enjoyed being around kids and working on getting better. I was always focused on doing one thing at a time with kids breaking things down. And I think I was 20 and we were getting beat in a baseball game and kid hit one way out and one of my kids hit the cut off and threw it to third and held the kid to a double and I'm losing my mind with excitement and people are like, what are you doing? The kid just got a double and I'm like, well, you don't understand. We kept him, you know, from from moving up on the base. So I always, I always liked that aspect of it.

Speaker 3: 40:56

Okay, and so, yeah, from it was pretty evident. You know, even before I came back to Wisconsin and UWM, that that that was what my, where my interest lied. And when I was, when I was at UWM, I called around in Mechwan and said, is anybody looking for an assistant coach on a baseball team? And you know, communities are always looking for coaches. They don't have enough coaches. And so I ended up coaching 13 year old Legion not Legion, but that age baseball, whatever. Yeah, before I started coaching at Homestead, Okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 41:37

So when you, when you you made your move from from Boston over to, did you I mean, obviously you go back to Boston Was Boston a place that you felt like you were going to stay when you were there? I?

Speaker 3: 41:50

mean, obviously I was living in Oregon, went to BU, went back to Oregon. My family moved here. Oh man, when I moved here I left a girlfriend, you know, in Oregon. I missed her. Like I was bound and determined I was going back to Oregon when I got. Oh okay.

Speaker 3: 42:06

I wanted to come with my brother and and spend some time with him. And then that, you know, we've all been there in relationships, right, yep? Then, three months later well, two weeks later, she'd forgotten me. Yeah, three months later, I'm recovering. And then, how dare she? So, yeah, if only she knew what she was missing out on, right, right, she'd be exactly where she is right now. I'm sure that's awesome, but you know, then I started to meet people and get involved with stuff and, and you know, by the time I finished student teaching, I realized I was going to have an opportunity to be at homestead and have have a job right, where you're actually making enough money to get an apartment and get out on your own a little bit. And and then, yeah, I mean, not many people can say that they spent their entire career at the same place.

Speaker 2: 42:58

Correct, correct.

Speaker 3: 43:01

And I I have been, and I had great, great people around me, great leadership in in school, great coaches to learn from, you know, and Dave and John Jacorus, who's a Hall of Fame basketball coach, yeah, who you know. They were just amazing. I was way too young to be a head coach when I was, you know I was. I was the head wrestling coach in 89 at the age of 24. And you know, my head from my hindered, to be honest, like and kind of kind of winged it in terms of trying to teach the sport, the one thing I've always been good at is relationship building with kids. Yeah, right, and so you can have a lot of faults if kids know you care about them. Yep, and so I, that side of things I was good at from day one. I wasn't as mature as I needed to be, you know and, and you grow and you know, and we didn't.

Speaker 3: 43:57

Probably I'm thinking back, right Cause I was emotional and you know, if they would have had me filmed arguing with officials or something at that time, like they have a social media, I don't know that my career would have gone the same way, true, cause it has. I learned and grew and, of course, and it's something as I've seen what that can do. I've been I'm pretty careful with that what I'm going to say, but I was too young to be a head coach. But Phil Perling my athletic director, I think saw some, some, some things in me that that we're going to. You know that. He saw for the long, long term and and it ended up working out, obviously, getting to stay where I got, obviously.

Speaker 2: 44:41

So we followed you to Milwaukee. You talked, you got that job. So we and you got into homestead. So let's, let's get into your homestead, your homestead life here. So you have left, you've been there. What, what did you?

Speaker 3: 44:53

you started coaching baseball there? Correct, I did. I was student teaching social studies, started coaching actually softball that spring and then baseball was a summer sport back then and so I was able to coach baseball that summer and they had a part time opening in the high school and I took the job. I wanted a job right, and so I accepted it in the social studies department. The next year Steve Pankowski, who was the econ teacher, retired, and this is a time where I remember Steve Pankowski was a great teacher, but this was a time where after school he would sit in his room and smoke his pipe and grade papers.

Speaker 2: 45:34

Hey, I still remember smoking days in the teachers. I remember those.

Speaker 3: 45:39

We had a smoking lounge that nobody, you know I'd never smoked so I wouldn't go in there but the smoke would come billowing out and but Steve Pankowski would smoke his pipe in his classroom, All those great papers every day. And he retired and I got the opportunity to apply and got that position and never left. You know, I taught, I student taught, in a classroom that I then taught in for 32 years. I was out of that room for two years. Jim Coots, who I student taught under, retired a couple of years later and then I mean it was a special place, special place for me to be and and I, you know, serving under the principles I did and you know I was there so long. My superintendent in the Mechwan Thien'sville school district, matt joint, was an elementary school teacher and I hired him for his first job at home, said to be on my baseball staff, and then he was my boss for the last seven years. Right that's it's classic.

Speaker 2: 46:39

I was going to say that's, that's some pretty cool stuff right there. It comes back around, right. You kind of is that one of those things where you're like, hey, remember.

Speaker 3: 46:47

You know, I, I was, I never, I was never. I'm not that guy, but but Matt, he's a special friend and a special guy in terms of his vision for caring about kids in the district and he came from a family of superintendents. So it was evident he was moving in that direction and and I honestly had forgotten about it and he reminded me a couple of years ago. You know, the reason I'm here, or I got this opportunity to be here, is because you gave me that chance to coach baseball with you and and and so, yeah, I ended up in the same place I, I was the JV baseball coach for four years and then Phil retired and they got the opportunity to coach in 1993.

Speaker 3: 47:30

And the interesting thing about that is my brother, ethan, was a junior the year that I became head coach at homestead. Oh, wow, we had, we had a, we had a good year. We lost in the sectional semifinals to West Mendes to ended up winning the state title that year. Okay, and then Ethan, senior year, we won the state championship with him as my number one pitcher and I mean, you know, getting to live dreams in the state quarterfinals against West Alice central. He had the only home run of his life, such a unique opportunity that I mean that these things that you've run into.

Speaker 2: 48:06

you just don't hear this stuff Like this is Monty Beals making the comment here that you're a great storyteller, and he's not lying, because there's so many things and instances that you've, that you've brought up now that are just like holy shit, no one, this doesn't happen to anyone like this just running into the job and then your brother and things like that. It's, it's fantastic.

Speaker 3: 48:28

I I try and like I don't believe in in divine intervention so much or stuff, like I always say, I think back to the movie Gandhi and he's talking to a minister and says, man, that was really lucky. And the minister goes what do you mean that was lucky? And they start talking about God and he goes. I just don't believe that my everyday experiences are so important that God's paying attention to what.

Speaker 3: 48:53

I'm doing on a daily basis, right, like I do believe In karma. Like you know, if you treat people while you know, hopefully you get some breaks here and there. And I think my mantra in my classroom was you know, I'm kids would come in every trimester and people are handing out their syllabus with 400 rules on it and I'm like, first of all, I can't pay attention to something that long. So how am I gonna ask one of my kids? And so I had one rule up on my whiteboard first yeah, it's rockboard. Then it became a whiteboard. It was treat others well. Three words Correct like. Treat others well means we're not, we're not gonna cheat, we're not gonna be disrespectful to other kids in our room, right, we're gonna. We're gonna build relationships. Even if you don't love the, your classmates at least know them right, so that if you see them in the hallway, you know you can acknowledge them. Or if you see some kids sitting in this classroom or sitting in the lunch room, or she's sitting in the lunch room alone, you know that's.

Speaker 3: 49:52

It can be a traumatic time for a kid, right, totally that cafeteria you don't know anybody, you're a new student, like yep, okay, let's, let's take a stop. So I've gotten. I've gotten some breaks and In so many ways. But but I have tried.

Speaker 2: 50:09

I've tried to be a good person, right, sure and there's times I don't want to be, there's times I don't want to be.

Speaker 3: 50:17

Where I want to be, I fail those moments I want to be vindictive and angry and Like and and righteous, and in my mind I'm righteous and and I I do run hot and cold, like my buddies used to call me the furnace. They're like, oh, the furnace just got stoked, the furnace is on fire. Everybody stand back. Because I could go from from zero to 150 in about two seconds. I see all rationality, all rationality is now out the window, like you know exact.

Speaker 2: 50:46

I know exact. I'll tell you right now from where I'm at right now, especially with the, you know, with Liam and things like that, and trying to keep in composure, sometimes, especially in the heat, especially as a coach, and, like you said, just kind of grew as you got into coaching and you grew into coaching, you had those moments where you just like, well, thank God social media wasn't around. But yeah, at the same time, though, to your, you learned that you know from those instances when you're like I don't need to be doing that, I don't need to, you know.

Speaker 3: 51:13

I want my buddies bring this up all the time, because one of them was there when it happened. We had a dual meet and we had a referee who was really struggling, yeah, and he was struggling any, and he was arrogant, right, and he was doing a terrible job in the JV matches. And afterwards I remember I walked up to and I was started out. It started out really calm and I Said, hey, can I talk to him for a minute? Sure, and I said I want to talk about a couple situations out there that I thought you could have handled a little bit differently in Square. And he just turned on me and he said are you questioning my judgment? And I went from zero to a hundred in one second and I was like, yeah, as a matter of fact.

Speaker 3: 51:53

I am questioning your judgment. And he's like get out of the gym. And I looked at him and I said, no, you get the hell out of my gym. Right, handling it really, really maturely, right, it's awesome, that's awesome.

Speaker 3: 52:05

And you know, the varsity official had gotten there and, fortunately, he was in agreement With me in terms of what was going on. Yeah, I laughed, you know, and he was mad and the varsity official said to me I did not see any of that conversation take place, like, and I went back and you know, but then I, you know, I got home and I'm, you know, I'm also that guy that if I do something and I know I and I knew I was wrong for getting out of control, I'll fixate on it, right, like I'll lose sleep over it and I just Try and learn lessons from that and I'm like I got, I can't do that anymore, like that's not good for my kids, that's not good for me, that's not setting a very good example and yeah, and I've really calmed down a lot, I still get fired up and excited. I'm a high-energy coach. Yeah, I'm a screamer and a yeller. Although 95% of it is positive, you're not gonna hear me beating my kids up when they screw up or make a mistake. Right, yeah, totally, totally Right.

Speaker 3: 53:07

And it really became one of my strengths as a coach my baseball team in 2014. We lost in the state championships to Brookfield Central. We had, you know, in conference championships in baseball in the North Shore Conference, were really, really hard to come by. And our last game of the season, regular season, we lost to graph and on a game ending hit. It was one of those things. Were anything that could go wrong went wrong and that right, yeah. And my kids are devastated and we've got through the handshake line and they sit down and I looked at him and I was still fired up and I'm like, okay, why'd we lose this game? And it was a rhetorical question and they look yeah, I got their attention, they looked up for me and I said did we lose this game because you guys weren't trying? Because you weren't putting in your best effort? Who is there? Anybody on this team that what? And and my team captain looked at me and he was like is he daring me here? And he's like he's like no, we. And I said you're right, we lost this game because we got some really tough breaks. Everybody did their absolute best. Yeah, it hurts, we're gonna recover from it, we're gonna go home and we're gonna get better. I go, I, I couldn't, I wouldn't be any prouder of you if we'd won. You carried yourself. And it was a huge moment for them because they were like yeah, coach, coach is not judging us because we lost right, correct? Yeah, coach is, coach is proud of us because we put the effort in.

Speaker 3: 54:29

And then we ended up beating a bunch of teams to get to the state Champs and I had a really good team, don't get me wrong. Yeah, we didn't have any great pitchers, we didn't have this kid that could go lights out and and that was just. That was that karma of that team I talked about. They just did things right and they they just busted their butts and ended up playing for a state championship and and so those things. I I remember that because I went home that down I'm like alright, I, after the referee incident, like I screwed up and that damn, like I Handled that the right way with my kids, right, yep.

Speaker 3: 55:03

So, as I've gotten older. You know I'm I'm never gonna get mad at a kid for losing, and everybody says that. But is that what they actually do is?

Speaker 2: 55:13

that right.

Speaker 3: 55:14

I told I totally agree, yeah, and I just I can't get mad at a kid who's putting in a hundred percent effort and got beat like like there's things we can do better. Hopefully, you know, in terms of on the mat. Yep and so you know that that my career in in baseball as I told you before them, it was way more successful from a win-loss perspective. Yeah, and my coaching career in wrestling. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3: 55:42

Yeah, we, you know I won, my teams won 500, some games. We played in six state tournaments and and, and I was able to enjoy success in wrestling. We haven't always had that success as a team, but I Remember a kid asking me one day in one of my classrooms Well, mr Millard, if you could only coach one thing, would it be baseball? Well, and I think the kids expected me to say baseball because that's where my success had lied. And I said I could only coach one sport, it would be wrestling. Sure, and, and she was a swimmer, the student who asked me, and she said why, and I said well, in baseball I have to cut kids. First of all. I have to tell some kid who's played baseball their whole lives that they might not get to play anymore. Yeah, in wrestling's a no-cut sport, mm-hmm. And at the time that I had that conversation, you know wrestling Thing about wrestling is there's not as much subjectivity as there is in baseball.

Speaker 3: 56:40

Right, like, right, like. I'm determining who's playing and I'm trying to be objective, but but I'm not necessarily gonna be right, I may be wrong. Sure, if you go out and earn that spot, mm-hmm, that's yours, you get to be on it. And yeah, and that was one of the reasons. And then Historically I've had some kids in my program that were at-risk kids. Sure, education we say at risk, you know, at risk of maybe not graduating? Yeah, maybe that family issues, maybe they hate school, maybe, you know, maybe they've, they've got a learning disability that they struggle with. And the sport of wrestling you get out of it what you put in right correct, like the harder you work, the better you're gonna get. And they're not all, not all kids are gonna win state titles. But a kid who maybe wrestles for a conference and that's one of the things we always talk about like, well, you know, charlie's expectation is I'm, I want to, I want to wrestle at the state tournament again this year for a title. Yeah, but when we get to a conference championships, I make sure that he takes a moment if he wins a conference title to appreciate it. Sure, because some other kid that may be, that may be the biggest match they ever wrestle in, ever correct conference championship. And so we're never gonna, we're never gonna denigrate what they're trying to accomplish. We're never gonna look well, that's not my goal. Well, I'm glad that's not your goal because you're in a different place. Yeah, but that kid needs that kid needs to be able to celebrate that. Yeah, I Remember talking to Keegan O'Toole it was about about three weeks before he was gonna win his fourth state championship and he was being Keegan O'Toole coaching youth kids on a Sunday, right, because he's just this great guy and we were having a talk and I said are you still having fun?

Speaker 3: 58:31

Mm-hmm, cuz, you're going for your fourth title. You know, I didn't say that part of it, but Kids feel that pressure to win for sure. Yes, and he said, yeah, he goes, I'm still having fun. It's a little different. And I said and I just said to him I said I Want you to know that I'm gonna be there, I'm gonna be one of the 15,000 people that stands up and Applauds you when you win your fourth state title. And I said I want you to do one thing for me Keegan Take a second and enjoy it.

Speaker 3: 59:02

Yeah, take it in because he was expected to win it. Right, he was expected to win it. Yeah, so I, just I, one of my strengths is reminding kids to enjoy the moments as you go through and and and when you know. Enjoy that Conference championship and then enjoy that regional title and then, if you get that section, and I you know, and, and Charlie's in a place where we all know there would be Disappointment if he's not wrestling for another state championship in his mind.

Speaker 3: 59:34

Sure, but, that doesn't mean when we get to conference, if he gets the opportunity to win another conference championship that his mom and I are gonna we're not gonna walk away from that. We're gonna say, hey, champing, today, right, yep, exactly.

Speaker 2: 59:48

Well, that was a. There was a thing with like Liam too, like it was the same thing. We walked up to her like hey, this is awesome, he's like next thing. I was like you still need to like remember this, though, like you still got to take it in as athletes. It's hard for those guys, I think, in the moment, because they're like they got that train, they're there's like nope, we just got to go to the next, we got still got more left to do, you know kind of thing. So, yes, I think it's important and great that you bring that aspect.

Speaker 3: 1:00:11

I see a lot of growth in Liam because because he, you know he he was telling everybody I want to be a state champion as a freshman, right, and I mean Jesus he placed fifth at a 160 as a freshman in the state championships, which is which is incredible, right? Some kids that they put too much pressure on themselves. I don't know Liam well enough to know if that was putting, if he was putting undue pressure on himself, could have been yes, you would have gotten an easy A with me. I had. It was a reputation as being an easy teacher too easy and soft and soft in my old age. Pop that one up there for sure. Yeah, I'm Monty, and I have had a couple conversations about expectations too. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:01:00

Yeah, I think.

Speaker 3: 1:01:01

Monty has a son who's an outstanding wrestler. And last year's on. Had you know, at the state, at the youth state tournament, have a little hiccup. Yeah, and I was talking Monty off the edge of the cliff for a little bit. Right, I can't imagine perspective of someone will probably deny it now We'll see, of course, but he was a dad who you know he loves his kids so much. Correct, right, he wants them to have the success and Zonza kid who works like crazy to be good See them for a year and we become.

Speaker 3: 1:01:33

We become consumed by that. I'm consumed by wanting success for Charlie. I am. I Try to do a good job of not expressing that in front of him sometimes. Yeah, I don't want that to impact him, yeah, but, but Monty and I had had some talk, we were messaging each other on Facebook and I'm like, dude, you got to calm down and enjoy the ride because, yeah, I, the coach of me, the coach of me, watches on some matches.

Speaker 3: 1:02:00

Mm-hmm. I'm like Monty, he did great stuff, like you, got caught here, you know, and gave up some points, but he's the one that's got the leg attacks going and he's doing great stuff, you know. And next thing, we're looking. The last time I checked, zon be always doing okay, when a national titles right, like so, and we're all, we're all like that, when, when you, when you love, when you love your kid as much as we do, as we all do, yep, it's hard not to get consumed by that and sometimes, when we love them so much that that we try too hard, right where we just need to get out of the way.

Speaker 2: 1:02:39

Well, and the feel, the failure kind of feels like your own right, like it, like you feel like you did something. Yeah, what do I need to fix? Yeah, and make this better for them.

Speaker 3: 1:02:49

That's a huge problem with what Austin's parents, like I always say I'm not defined by and but we still feel it. I'm not defined by whether Charlie's a great wrestler or not. Right, and Lisa always helped me with that. Right, because she went, she would go to meets with us and you know she wanted him to win because because he was happier when he won. Yeah, she didn't care, right. Right when I was coaching, on the flip side, charlie didn't care if we won. Yeah, I just wanted to get on the bus with the team and go and go for ice cream after that's it.

Speaker 3: 1:03:24

But we, we look in the mirror and we and this is something if if Parents get one thing from listening to you and I talked tonight who are not defined by your child's wins and losses, Correct.

Speaker 3: 1:03:36

You are defined by the kind of person your child is yeah, right You're, and the input that you have, the support that you give them right. If your intercouraging growth in your kid, then that's what should define you right. And and we talk all the time, you know, as parents who coach and my coaches are like, oh, it must be great to be as coach and I'm really honest like I I Entitled and Charlie's head coach, I'm not Charlie's coach. All right, max Ascrin is Charlie's coach. Max, I've been Charlie's coach.

Speaker 3: 1:04:13

Yeah, and when and and when Charlie was getting to where he was and I was getting close to retirement, I wanted to find and and the sport is so different from when I was wrestling it's passed me by in so many ways yeah, I found writer Sigler, who you know was younger, is a lot younger. Russell Xeter were wrestled at whitewater works with Max. Yeah, I could help try. Writer is is Charlie's coach in in the practice room, right, and when we get to matches, and and I defer to writer On things. So the one thing I've done a great job of Now as a coach who's also a dad yeah, I haven't gotten in my own way. I haven't screwed my relationship up with my kid, I just made. I've seen a lot of dads who I think are over the top and I'm, I observe and I'm like I'm not, I'm not gonna be that dad.

Speaker 2: 1:05:06

I am my kid hate me. I had to go through that as well. I mean because I played high-level athletics when I was younger, I was in soccer. So I mean, I, I have a, I have a high tolerance to, I guess, others around me as far as competing and things like that. I can, I can definitely bring them along. You know, like it's, I don't get, I don't get brought bogged down by bringing guys along, but, like as a parent, it's it's hard for me to bring myself down and bring myself along at at the beginning, because when he was young that's all he had was me coaching. We went into the room and you know we had our coaching in there, but those guys can't go to the tournaments. So from five years to now and I pulled the cord, probably I would say two years ago, when I was like Josh is yours, coach Machak, he's yours and this is, and I'm comfortable with that because you ended up with two pretty good coaches there too oh man I couldn't even I could.

Speaker 3: 1:06:00

Actually, I had not met coach Machak until Last year at the coaches convention. Yeah, that with him. And we actually sat and had a beer before the Nice, before the Hall of Fame inductions yeah, and that was the first time I'd ever sat with them Really and chatted, and what an amazing coach. Oh my gosh, great guy, very great guy, knows so much and and has a similar belief system to what I have in terms of Growth in kids. You know that we talked about that growth mindset all the time.

Speaker 3: 1:06:34

Yeah that that was. You know, brad, that was a really good decision on your part, because there's only so much we can do for our kids, even though we, you know, we love them so much and we think that we can yeah, and you know your kids, but deep down I mean what the drive that they have and, like we've talked about a couple times now, like sports, just aren't the same.

Speaker 2: 1:06:53

You know the pressure is a little different in kids. You got social media. You got all this other stuff. You got people making comments about. You know who's ducking who? Because it really it really boils down to is yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:07:05

I got, you know, especially you know Charlie's at Max's Academy, right, yeah, they've had a special group. They've had a special group of kids, right, you had great in schools and Ethan Riddle last last year with them. And then you've got the two mirror solace, yeah, and you've got Charlie, and you got Silas Daly and you got Wyatt do yes.

Speaker 3: 1:07:21

Yes, in the class of 24, yeah, and. And Connor O'Donnell right, yep, I mean Connor. Yep, I just gave you Eight names of D1 guys, right, yeah. And then below them, you know, you've got behind them other kids that you know, like Colin McDowell, and I mean Yep, the list goes on and on and they're they were just in a really, really special, special place like what can? There's nothing I can do to help here other than be supportive, that's it, and listen.

Speaker 3: 1:07:57

Just that conversation with Josh you know when, when I look back, I'm I'm gonna go all right. My greatest strength is I recognize that I didn't screw it up with Charlie and I. I know I didn't. You can see I got a little cut on my lip right here Were you wrestling. He picks on me all the time at home. Oh man.

Speaker 2: 1:08:18

Harley, stop it.

Speaker 3: 1:08:20

Stop it, charlie. I knew last year and it's just one of those little moments, right, I knew I hadn't screwed things up because he was getting ready for for the championship match. Yeah, well, and he and I just let him do his thing. He knows how he wants to prepare, you know. And he went downstairs and I always say you text me when you want me to come down. Mm-hmm, and he'd been gone five minutes and he texted me and said you want to come down, dad? Which was his way of saying dad, I want you to come down with me. Yep, and I got down and he just came over and gave me a hug and then we did not say another word and that was it. Like 120 something. Yeah, thanks, mike. Same to you, buddy. And I went down, he gave me a hug and I just got out of his way and let him warm up, but just, he wanted me there, which tells me I didn't screw it up, right? Yep, yep, exactly Well and so you.

Speaker 2: 1:09:16

But you developed that over time though too, like you, you have. You had the practice guys. You know to kind of they weren't your kids, but you were able to see how an athlete is able to develop and, like you said, you develop relationships and obviously is your son. It's a it's a different relationship, but you knew the space, you knew, okay, he does better when this happens. So you, you put things together. I mean, obviously you're not a dumb guy, ernie, so I mean you're able to put things together.

Speaker 3: 1:09:43

So when you sir, I'm smart enough to and this is better I'm smart enough to surround my people myself with good people. Yeah, I remember when I was I was probably 26 or 27 and my dad and I, like I said, didn't see eye to eye. It's one of those conversations you never forget. You know, my buddies were over, we were shooting hoops in the driveway and having a great time, and my parents were grilling out a little bit and my dad came up and put his arm around me and he said Ernie, you can really judge people by who they surround themselves with. And what he said to me was he goes, you keep great company, he said to me.

Speaker 3: 1:10:23

So I've been really good at at picking, picking really good friends. You know the coach, the coaching thing. Like I said, I haven't done a lot of coaching with Charlie in terms of what he's doing on the mat, though the area that Lisa and I Do a lot of coaching with him on is being the kind of person we want him to be right and how he should treat other people, and I do pay really close attention to social media stuff.

Speaker 3: 1:10:50

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm and barely, and Lisa's like Like we have life 360, where we know where each other are right and say I'm here. I remember one day Charlie's like dad, dad, mom, stalking me on On my 360, your phone, and I said, yes, she is, and get used to it right. That's awesome, that's great because not alone in that, no God. No, I mean she stalks me too. I tell them all the time like yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:11:25

And we joke around about it. But the reality is, when kids are young, you know, I mean not not necessarily young kids, but but when we get older, like you, say something on social media and it's not going away, you don't get to take it back, you don't, that's for sure. And so we've worked really, really hard to encourage him, when he's posting or when he's doing things, to really think about what he does before. And then, once we got into the recruiting process after his sophomore year and the phone started, I knew some of the schools that were gonna recruit him because they were calling for transcripts and I taught at Homestead, right.

Speaker 3: 1:12:07

And so the Guides Council would go. This school just asked for transcripts or any. Why are they asking for transcripts? This was early on and I said, well, they're asking because they're showing some interest in him. And when we got through the process and he had decided on Minnesota, which is every day, I told the coaches today. I texted him. I said if you're bored and you wanna listen to the podcast, I'm coming on tonight. But I said I was gonna give him a shout out. He ended up picking the University of Minnesota with Coach Agam and Coach Becker and Coach Sanders and Coach Brandevolde because of the kind of people that they are. But I found out after from one of the dads who's involved with the RTC out there that he's like just so you know, we vet you guys and he goes. We don't just vet kids, we vet their parents.

Speaker 3: 1:13:07

I learned about that? He's like they're gonna go on social media and they're gonna see what you have to say. And they're gonna go on social media and they're gonna check and see what your kid has to say. And we all know there are stories of kids losing scholarships the stuff that they said on social media, right? Yes, that is correct.

Speaker 3: 1:13:25

And so that aspect of Charlie's life I've been really involved with in terms of hey, bud, make sure you're treating this person right. And Max has really pushed Charlie in the leadership area right Now. He's having a lot of success. Now you wanna share your success with other kids? He does this little pay it forward with lessons when they're getting to a certain point, right, yeah, when Charlie was in the eighth grade, tyler Schiesel of Germantown would give Charlie private lessons, and because Max was getting to the point where he couldn't give them to everybody, right, sure. And so he was building this pay it, I'm gonna teach you and you're gonna teach Yep. And so that really impacted Charlie and helped him in his growth. And then we got to the point where he was old enough and Max was like all right, it's your turn, mm-hmm. Right, you're gonna start helping.

Speaker 3: 1:14:18

You're gonna start teaching, yeah, and so that's the part of Charlie that I'm proud of, and I'm biased because he's my kid, but I think he's a good person I'm. He treats other people well.

Speaker 2: 1:14:33

Oh yeah. Charlie's a good kid. Both thanks A lot of times that I ask athletes this, but I don't get to ask a parent and your coach as well. But what was that process like for you on your side, as far as the college is contacting and the whole recruiting process? What were you thinking? As you're kind of going through it, it was overwhelming. Was it First of?

Speaker 3: 1:14:54

all. I and I undersell my kids sometimes. Sometimes we do that, you know. I look at Charlie and I still see the little kid and I'm talking to him and the McClun Mustang Singlet who was losing at the beginner tournament, and we began to realize that he was gonna be a kid that was highly recruited. Max knew it by going into his freshman year.

Speaker 3: 1:15:25

I remember he said to me every once in a while I have back spasms.

Speaker 3: 1:15:28

And I had had back spasms the day before, the Friday before, and I was out working in the garden and Lisa was like Max, would you come over and get my idiot husband out of the garden? And so Max came over and he's like you got 40 minutes and then we're going to the house, right. And so we went in the house and we're having a beer and I was laying on the floor stretching my back and I just remember we were talking about lots of things and with us it's always going back to wrestling. But just out of the blue he said, ernie, your kid's gonna be a freak someday. And I was like, and I just looked at him and said, okay, that'd be great, that'd be great. And then he had a great freshman year in place at State. And then when he beat Angelo Ferrari, that's when I began to realize like I went on track wrestling because I wanted to rewatch the match and he got 4,000 hits in one night on his track account. Like I'm like, okay, because people wanted to know who this kid is, right.

Speaker 3: 1:16:29

Yep what the hell is going on here.

Speaker 3: 1:16:31

And then, when he wrestled Mitchell so well, all of a sudden a lot of schools were asking for transcripts. So I was excited. I still had no concept until June 15th of what was gonna happen. And at 12, 01, he was getting in the morning, he was getting texts. You know, you got texts from Missouri, minnesota and Oregon State right. And then at 545, I think it was, or maybe it was 645 coach reader called him and for you know, that day I'm like this is fun. This is where the kids got all these calls For about two hours. And then I was like I started thinking about it and I go. So he only gets to tell one of these schools, yes, which. He's got to tell all these other schools, no, yeah, what do you?

Speaker 3: 1:17:21

do and so I was crazy excited and then I was exhausted and by the time we got to the fall and he had narrowed it down, I was Lisa and I were feeling a lot of stress for him Because the programs are doing what they wanna do. And first of all, it's amazing, big 10 schools and packed 12 schools, you know. And big 12 schools want my kid right, and that was overwhelming. But then you know, and they're doing what they're calling and they're driving in. And you know, when he wrestled on the big cheese, coach Pendleton flew out from Oregon State, drove to McGowanego to spend time with him. You know, that's pretty cool, yeah. And then flew out and I'm like Charlie might have to call Coach Pendleton who just spent. And I said to him before he came out I'm like if you're not really excited about still about Oregon State, then you owe it to Coach Pendleton not to waste his time and money, right, right, I agree, coach Pendleton's one of the great minds in college wrestling right now. I agree, I agree, he's definitely got a good. And I just realized he's gonna have to call these guys and say no. And part of that process, you know, was if you know that's where you don't wanna go, then you need to be upfront with the coaches and that's really hard, not practicing avoidant behavior like that. You're 16 and you're telling these guys we're not gonna come here. So it got. It was stressful.

Speaker 3: 1:18:52

And then last year we're just about two weeks away, I think, or no, a week and a half I went up to the coaches convention and I came home Saturday morning and Lisa and Charlie and I went in and met with Max to talk about college stuff after, yeah for sure, we wanted to hear what he had to say. I think he wanted to hear what he had to say and Charlie had kind of narrowed it down to that point in time to Oregon State and Minnesota. You and I was still in the mix. He had called coach Smith and other week before and said you know, I'm probably not, I'm not gonna come to Missouri, and which coach Smith is? Oh my God coach Smith and Kendrick Maple and Tyrell Todd oh my gosh, just amazing people.

Speaker 3: 1:19:41

And I remember when he came down and told us and I was a little surprised because you know he had a relationship with Keegan and you know. But then I got home Saturday, we came home and Lisa was going out to dinner with her friends and she laughed at like 430. And Charlie came downstairs and said dad, I know where I wanna go to school, oh boy. And I said, okay, and I honestly didn't know. And I said, all right, what do you want? Where do you wanna go? And he said I wanna go to the University of Minnesota. Yeah, and.

Speaker 3: 1:20:11

I said, okay, have you told Oregon State yet? No, I haven't talked to. I haven't talked to Oregon State and I haven't talked to Coach Schwab at UNI yet. And I said okay, what do you wanna do? I said you need to tell them. And he called Corey Crooks, who's one of the assistants at Oregon State who was recruiting Charlie most heavily, who was just an incredible guy, yeah, and he called Corey and said you know, I've made my decision, and it's not Oregon State. And Corey was amazing, right, yeah, and so was Coach Smith, right, yep, and so was Coach Schwab. And so he came back downstairs after talking to Corey and I said you know, when do you wanna get in touch with Minnesota? And he's like I wanna call him tonight, dad. And so I texted the staff and said would you guys, are you guys available? Charlie would like to talk to you tonight. Yeah, and they said, yeah, absolutely. So I made a Zoom call Nice. And I called.

Speaker 3: 1:21:14

I texted Lisa and said Charlie is made his decision. He wants to go to Minnesota, he wants to talk to the coaches and they wanna talk at 7 pm. And she said absolutely not, I'm not gonna be home till 7.30. My son is not calling the university he's gonna attend until I get home. So I texted him and said can we do it at 7.30? Yeah, and Agam said Yassin. Then we had this great conversation and Brandon, I remember he said well, usually when we get a text saying Charlie would like to talk to you guys about something and it's the group, it's a good sign. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:21:51

So, we had a great like 25 minute conversation with the staff and we're so excited. And then the next day he had an appointment to talk with coach Schwab on the phone and-.

Speaker 3: 1:22:01

Okay, Doug's a good guy, and you know I know I'm saying great things about all these coaches because I really feel that way. There's some just amazing no decision that he made was gonna be wrong, which Lisa and I took a lot of solace in. And coach Schwab said to Charlie Charlie, the only thing I regret is I'm not gonna get to spend time with you. He goes. You're gonna do great at the University of Minnesota and Charlie's really tight with Parker Kekaisen.

Speaker 2: 1:22:30

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:22:31

And Schwab being the kind of guy he is. He called Parker and Parker texted Charlie like 10 minutes later and said you're gonna be great at the University of Minnesota. I'm rooting for you.

Speaker 2: 1:22:41

That's awesome, that's great.

Speaker 3: 1:22:43

Well, and so you have-.

Speaker 2: 1:22:44

I'll tell you what Mr.

Speaker 3: 1:22:45

Hopke. We are so excited that we get to be teammates with Koi Hopke at the University of Minnesota, so Koi committed right after the Freestyle State Championships this year. Yeah, and I was chatting with Byron there.

Speaker 2: 1:23:03

Yeah, yeah, hello, byron. Byron, you're a good dude.

Speaker 3: 1:23:05

I texted him right after Koi had committed and I was so like, once you become part of a program and we have never had buyers remorse about going to Minnesota like every day we're happier about the decision which tells us we made the right one. Yeah, yeah, and Koi committed, I mean, and Charlie's a great wrestler, but to get a Koi Hopke who's a world champ and who's done all these amazing things as a teammate and also the kind of kid and person that Koi Hopke is. I texted Byron. I'm like I am so happy right now. That's awesome. I am so happy Like I was calling at least. I'm like Koi's going to Minnesota, honey, and like arms were flying up and it's gonna be Wisconsin High School University pretty soon.

Speaker 2: 1:23:59

I mean, we're gonna have Charlie there.

Speaker 3: 1:24:01

They've done a great job of recruiting. Yeah, you know, trevor is a Wisconsin guy. I used to be a River Falls guy, but he's two-time All-American at the University of Wisconsin and I remember, you know. Afterwards I asked Charlie. I said what was it? Ultimately? What, as great as all these schools are, what was it, yeah, that caused you to?

Speaker 2: 1:24:26

want to go to the most.

Speaker 3: 1:24:28

And he said their room is the way that their room operates reminds me a lot of Max's room. Okay, okay, and you know he had he's got a lot of time talking with Trevor. Trevor is, he's an outstanding recruiter and he's just such a real person and Luke is so real too. And he said he goes. I just and people don't understand how close Charlie is with Max, like I've tried to impress that tonight on it, but they're really, really tight, like he babysits for them. He like I mean they spend a lot of time together. And he said they just remind me most of Max's dad. That's what he said to me, you know.

Speaker 2: 1:25:07

I got Liam went to that camp that Kras had with the big guys camp with. Yeah, jordy.

Speaker 3: 1:25:12

Kras is amazing too, by the way.

Speaker 2: 1:25:14

Kras is an awesome guy Another firecracker, by the way. Yeah, he's just ready to go off at any minute, but with the guys that he had there, liam was able to, you know, work a little bit more. There's a lot of smaller guys and Liam was able to kind of work with those guys one-on-one, and he came back from that and he said you know, it is worth. You know, that's the biggest thing I think right now about the sport and just the things that these kids go through. They recognize things and they see things a little and they surprise you and the things that they see. Liam came back and said they didn't ask about my wins or losses. They asked about what I want to accomplish. It wasn't about who I beat, what I beat when I beat. They asked me what was I looking to accomplish? And he goes. Nobody besides my coaches and those guys, nobody asked me that Everybody else looks at who I beat and who I lost to.

Speaker 3: 1:26:04

Yeah, and they like, when you know, by the time we were at Fargo, charlie, sophomore year, you know, then college coaches, they're there, they're all over the place at Fargo, right, and they were asking, and lots of them talk about it, like, if Charlie has a bad tournament, I wonder if they're not going to be interested in them anymore. Right, yeah, but the interesting thing is their vision of a version of a bad tournament is not what ours is as a parent, right, correct?

Speaker 3: 1:26:32

I'm wondering if that tournament is all they didn't. They didn't win the national title, they didn't make it through the blood round. They're watching to see how they react after a loss. That's the thing they're watching most Like. Charlie got just absolutely hammered by Ty Whalen in the quarterfinals. Who's an outstanding wrestler is that Princeton? And he got tacked by him. And after the recruiting process was over I was talking to Trevor and Brandon about it- yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:27:03

And or maybe it was during the I think I was talking to Brandon about it and he said he was watching Charlie after he lost. Because, I'm not kidding you, 20 minutes after he lost to Ty Whalen and you're devastated, you're in a blood round now and if you don't win, you go on home, right? So one minute you're thinking about I want to win a national title and the next minute you're thinking about oh my God, I'm not even gonna be on the podium. And he said I watched Charlie really closely. Ty was really disappointed. We're back, and this goes back to Max. Max is like get it together, you're gonna be wrestling. And he's wrestling Cutter Sheets, who won 14 matches as a red shirt at Oklahoma State last year. Right, yeah, exactly, he was a graduating senior and he had to beat Cutter Sheets to get on the podium. Yeah, yeah. And Brandon said that was a really important moment watching Charlie get himself together and go prepare for that match.

Speaker 2: 1:28:04

Yeah, that'll work on you. Even in a high school match with young kids, that'll work on a kid, as far as knowing. Well, I just fell down this ladder or this rung. Now I get to climb back up this just to do something else.

Speaker 2: 1:28:17

I mean, body language is everything. You see them after the match, and if they're just like this and kind of down the whole time, you may know that it's over with. But at the same time, though, too and now, like the experience Charlie's gained you work past that and you get past it you know that the goal is completely different from what they're actually looking at in high school, and I'm just starting to learn that as well. Talking to some of the guys that we talked to, when we go to tournaments because, I mean, grades matter, things like that but when it comes to the competition piece, they want someone that is going to persevere through the things it doesn't mean that they're always gonna be they want to contender number one, and they want someone who's gonna be stable if it doesn't go their way, and that's, I think that's key, and Charlie shows that. I mean, charlie shows that all the way through. Obviously, it's been a while since we've actually seen him lose and they have to deal with that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3: 1:29:04

Well, I've seen him lose, yeah for sure, as a dad who watches Charlie. And he's, max's working on transforming these kids into college wrestlers, right, yep, right. I remember last year he was like, oh, charlie's hand fighting is really good now. And then a month later he's like well, we've got to work on his hand fighting. And I said what are you talking about? You told me his hand fighting was good and he goes yeah, his hand fighting was really good for a high school kid. Now we're gonna learn a hand fight so that he can be successful at the college level.

Speaker 3: 1:29:35

And Charlie is a kid who, like Max, always says man, it's like a bull charging at a red flag. He's just gonna keep shooting and shooting. Sometimes I want Max, wants him to slow down. So now we're at Fargo and all of a sudden he's down seven to three in the quarterfinals. And I'm like you know and one of the things Charlie has as a motor, everybody who follows Charlie knows that, like in the third period, he's gonna keep coming at you, right, and he ended up winning that match. And I remember saying to Max I'm like I appreciate all that you're doing. It's really hard on me. This maturation process. Couldn't we get a couple of takedowns a little bit earlier?

Speaker 2: 1:30:17

Yeah, can we do this please, cause it's killing me. And, of course, max is like.

Speaker 3: 1:30:21

I don't care what you want, it's not about you, it's about what. Getting Charlie, I'm like thanks, I really appreciate that right.

Speaker 2: 1:30:28

So when you, as Charlie now is growing in, and he's growing into his senior position here, obviously, with the season coming up and with the team coming up, what's the outlook and what's the goal? Not just Charlie, but you got a team right.

Speaker 3: 1:30:42

I mean, you got a strong team, absolutely, and we've got I've probably talked too long tonight, but oh no, charlie's one of three state champions in the history of Homestead High School, okay, okay. And you know his goal is to be a two-time state champ in high school and he's actually really excited about the season. He's excited about being at Minnesota, but he's excited about the season. And so Max and I have talked to him and I said, charlie, you're gonna be, you're gonna go down in history as one of Homestead's greatest wrestlers.

Speaker 3: 1:31:13

Yep, I want you to go down in history as being one of Homestead's greatest wrestlers on Homestead's greatest team, and and so that's the that's the goal is is for us to be the best team Homestead's ever had, and I think we're in a we're in a really good place with that. You know, first of all, we've got, you know I Drive eight minutes when he was little to take him to ask for wrestling Academy. Right, we have this in our backyard when, where the dailies are driving 55 minutes each way to get Silas down there, who's one of Charlie's best friends, and yeah, and and so it's in our backyard and it took a long time in this community to convince kids. You know, wrestling's not that sport that everybody's gonna go. Oh, I want to be a wrestler, yeah, and, and it was really hard.

Speaker 3: 1:32:05

But we have like seven or eight or even nine kids in that room now and I, I could tell my trainer said to me because we did body fat testing, yep, you know, you can start doing it on the 16th, and so a bunch of bunch of my kids who've been wrestling, they went in and tested and Kyle's, like you guys, are gonna be way better this year. And I said, how do you know when he goes? Because these kids are Way more tone, they're way more fit than they were a year ago. These kids. He goes.

Speaker 3: 1:32:34

I can tell you that these kids have put time in, that's right um, you know I mean for a long time our goal is to get our numbers up and now we're at 30 plus kids and it's good. And you know we're in a different sectional this year. We're not gonna see arrowhead. You know that perennial really good team. This year in our sectional we got. We got moved for the first time. We're not gonna like when Charlie was a freshman. We're in that super sectional with Kakana.

Speaker 3: 1:33:02

Yeah, you know you want to talk about a meat grinder and we're in a. We're in a sectional where we we're one of the favorites you know to get out of our regional to that team sectional duel me. I know Liam's taking note of guy. He's guys and guys. It's funny we were just talking about him today.

Speaker 2: 1:33:22

I think he's the most improved kid on our team, guy fraily if in, because I don't know your entire team, but I can say that for sure because Liam has been practicing with him. He's like man, he's getting good. Yeah, and guys a young wrestler.

Speaker 3: 1:33:34

He wasn't a guy who was wrestling in club his whole life. It didn't start until, you know, eighth, ninth grade. So he's got a really steep learning curve. So and he's, you know, last year was at 145, this year he's gonna be at 175 and there will be times where we need him at 190.

Speaker 3: 1:33:51

Eagle and and George Jones and the two stammer boys, yeah, and you know, I mean the list goes on of kids that have put the time in. Yeah, we're gonna be able to fill our lineup. We've got got kids who have to get better. If we're gonna, if we're gonna be competitive in Reginals and get to that team sectional and you know you look across at the other side and the teams that have had Traditional success, or Oak Creek and Franklin from that regional and yeah, we want to be competitive with those two teams and we get to host the sectional duel meet this year, which I'm crazy excited about. Yeah, team sectional, you know that would be you. I've already gotten to live too many dreams come true. It's probably not fair to ask, but getting getting to spend, you know, my last year as head coach, maybe competing for a trip to the team state tournament, would be pretty, pretty cool. They pretty sweet.

Speaker 2: 1:34:44

I agree. Well, and so the progress that you guys have made, you have had you're gonna have a stellar year. It's gonna be a great way to cap off coaching things like that. What are, what are some of your plans? What do you guys you talk? You talk about door County plan on travel a little bit, no for sure.

Speaker 3: 1:35:00

I, you know I retired from teaching in June. Actually, yeah, I had shared that my dad's really struggling with Alzheimer's, yep, and I retired from teaching a year early. We had some young teachers in our, in our department, who are awesome, yeah, and we're going through some kind of some financial strains and so so there were multiple reasons. But wanting to help, be able to help my mom out at home, I, I stepped down. You know, I retired from teaching.

Speaker 3: 1:35:27

Of course, by the time we got to September I had two part-time jobs and I work with Ozaki youth apprenticeship in the morning, finding kids good fits for potential jobs they want to do some day. And and then I I do hall monitor stuff at my old high school and I go Kind of fill an assistant athletic director role in sporting events. So I've stayed super busy. It affords me the opportunity like, like Lisa and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in door County over the weekend. I could my schedule flexible enough. I I said you know, friday I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna be at work.

Speaker 3: 1:36:01

I got my, my couple things done with those hockey, youth apprenticeship and yeah, and allowed us to go up as a native Oregonian. We own a little house out in Oregon on the coast, and so we'll get out there a little bit more often. And and then this kid, Charlie Millard, who's gonna be at the University of Minnesota. We're hoping was that, we're hoping that he's. You know, I think he'll probably redshirt next year, but he still gets to compete at some tournaments. We okay, we want the flexibility to get to go watch him. I want to talk to you about that.

Speaker 2: 1:36:29

So so, knowing the way classes in, I mean it's not an easy way class. You know he's 157, 165, wherever it's gonna wind up being. Yeah, what with that way class in? What were your thoughts on the process of going through that of of? Does he redshirt doesn't read you do the coaches make that call? Is that them saying, or they?

Speaker 3: 1:36:48

talking to you. The coaches make that call Okay, okay, 100%, and the. The reality is, you know I talked to Alex during her about it, who I've gotten to know really well yeah, it was three-time national champ. He redshirted at Oklahoma State, sure, yeah and for sure. And he, you know, his worst finish at the NCAA tournament was third, yeah, and yet he redshirted. He, you know, cool, redshirted, right, yes, yep, only makes sense, hi guys, and redshirted.

Speaker 3: 1:37:15

So the reality is he's probably gonna redshirt. You gotta grow the only way that, the only way you know that he wouldn't redshirt, as if, if I think they're in a place when we're Minnesota and I think the kids that they have coming in Are, I'm putting them in a place to be, to move back up into that. You know that national picture again for picture. If they, if they get to a point where they think Charlie can help them with that next year, yeah, then maybe that happens. I think the reality is he's probably gonna redshirt. We're trying to condition him, yeah, in his thought process to be prepared for that, because it's such a grind, right, yeah?

Speaker 2: 1:38:00

yeah, well, the opens are tough. You know a lot of things he's gonna be.

Speaker 3: 1:38:04

I will tell you, like I said this before, max makes the decisions for Charlie. You and I were talking about super 32 is, and I, yeah, is one. We never went out there. And and and max said I Just don't think that's a place he needs to go right talked about when Charlie was a sophomore. He could have gone down to 45 and max said the best thing for him is to go to is to stay at 52 and improve. And and and max has never been wrong with Charlie. You know it's always it's looking bad and we can look back at sure, at the right, like, yeah, and I don't think that coach eggum and Brandevald and Becker and Sanders are gonna be wrong either.

Speaker 2: 1:38:46

I don't think so. Yeah, I just thought it was just curious because I mean, again, a tough way class Still. Honestly, I think if Charlie could make, if he made the lineup, I think he would. You would do alright, but is there's a lot of growth that happens? I mean, you're walking into now a league we're getting in and a takedown is great, but are you finishing? You know they got to be able to, they really got to go to grow into it to put things in perspective.

Speaker 3: 1:39:08

You know we went out to visit Because he's technically still a recruit, right, so go out for one of their recruiting weekends for the class of 2025 and he got to practice with the team and he was practicing with Michael block us, who's an all-american last year, right. And so Charlie was wrestling with another young man and With Devon was Lee and then block us came over and, like five seconds in, charlie hits an ankle pick and gets a takedown Right and as block us is going down to the mat, I I'm up above, I can see. I see this look on his face like and I'll tell you what the next ten minutes yeah, there were no more takedowns for Charlie Millard like.

Speaker 3: 1:39:53

Look for nice I'm not, cuz is 24 years old and Charlie's 17,. Right, yeah, that year of my point is that year of growth. Yes, it's huge. Hey, yeah, and again, I agree, charlie's pretty good right enemies, right nationally, and he's a state champ and and and Michael block us. You know, showed him what it means. There's levels. Do you want to be? If you want to be an all-american caliber athlete, yeah, a long way to go kid.

Speaker 2: 1:40:20

You got that one. You got that one you did get that one.

Speaker 3: 1:40:23

I saw it and I, you know and Michael block is great young man Lisa and I ran into him Later on in the day at the bookstore buying sweatshirts and we were just so appreciative that I mean he walked over and chose to wrestle with my kid. You know, at practice, like it was so cool that's cool, that's very cool.

Speaker 2: 1:40:47

So it's, it's gonna be a unique situation. I mean, obviously we're gonna we're gonna wind up going to some duels, you know, over to Minnesota. I know we're gonna try and get to some Wisconsin. We're gonna go over to Michigan see if we can see some. We like Big Ten wrestling, you know, and there's there's a lot of things to see. Did, did. Did Charlie? Did Charlie think that he, like, when he, when he chose Minnesota, did he think, like and you made it pretty clear when you talk, when you talked about originally did? Did he maybe think, oh, maybe I should call this cook now? Nope, nope, minnesota, was it? You said he was sold right away on the room and with with the things that he's doing, in the way that he's growing, did he? You know that he just maybe balk for a minute and think that he wanted to do something different?

Speaker 3: 1:41:28

No, Minnesota's there, I mean, and, and he, you know he is a smart kid, I'm not, I'm not taking Process, I don't think he knew right away. Yeah, but just a lot of us, you know, you know, I, I talked to a couple coaches, talked to one of the assistants at South Dakota State Okay, I remember cams last name, who's a national champ at Cornell and is just this amazing coach, yeah, and he were taught, you know, we're talking about the fact that that was a school. Charlie said, um, you know, thank you, coach, but yeah, no, and and and I was really curious about how Charlie handled that process. Yeah, and he said something to me. He said Charlie knew where, where he was going, you know, kind of where he wanted to be. And coaches appreciate that fact too. Right, like we're not gonna waste time recruiting somebody who doesn't want to come here. But I think he, I think he knew he had some ideas of where he wanted to go.

Speaker 3: 1:42:27

What I would do when he was, you know, that spring, when I realized that a that a school had checked on transcripts, I would, I'd make him a sheet For each school and I would have the name of the school where it was located. The conference that was in. Okay, how big the city was? You want to be in a big city a little? And and then pictures of the coaches so that when he was talking to them on the phone he could associate a face to a name. Yep, yep, sure, yeah, that was. That was honestly all I did, and Lisa and I said, if you want to talk to us about things, we're here, like. But as the process went through that, I had no, I had no concerns, like I knew that every program he was looking at had great people, but it was like, okay, what we can't ask for anything else, right, and we're financially in a place we're really fortunate he's got a college fund and and where it's sort of does a really good job over there.

Speaker 3: 1:43:22

Yeah, they, they're doing a great job, but you know, one school is offering a little bit more than another school and we're like don't make your decision, yeah, based on three or four thousand dollars, charlie. Right, you don't want you to do that. That was the one thing in the recruiting process when, when schools would talk about the financial side of things, he didn't have a clue. And I told him you don't need to have a clue. Nope, I'm that's, that's, mom, a nice job. And I would listen to what they had to say and and I'm like Anywhere you want to go that you've determined is gonna, is gonna be great, charlie, you're gonna, you're gonna be in a great place with that and that kind of gave that I Did because I didn't want that to be a decision right, which was some kids, if their family's finances are in a different place, like I said, he's been really lucky. That that's. You know, the difference between you know, $5,000 difference a year means a lot, right, it does, yeah, so so yeah, we didn't.

Speaker 3: 1:44:19

We were just in a great place with that and honestly, we we didn't do very much like the phone would. The phone rang a lot and he'd go upstairs and I'd hear, hey coach, you know, hey coach Smith, or hey coach Pendleton, or you know, hey coach Becker, hey coach egg, you know, hey coach Schwab, hey coach roper, you know, and, and you'd hear the conversations and they were checking and and yeah, it was really cool. But Lisa and I did not have have much to do with that, other than that we got really curious at the end. We wanted to know sure guidance, you're just hiding.

Speaker 2: 1:44:55

It was really hard.

Speaker 3: 1:44:56

It was really hard when we got those last couple weeks. The other thing I said to him you know there was this debate when should he decide? You know, yeah, some kids decide late. I wanted him to decide before the season started because I could see I could see that and he's a pretty happy go lucky kid I could see that it was weighing on him a little bit. Sure, I didn't want him to be carrying that with him and brand new Chateau, who's one of my best friends, and the Parent coaching rank, and why it's going to Minnesota now with Charlie.

Speaker 3: 1:45:28

You know he, he said to me, ernie, why would he? Why would he wait? He goes. You know he's had, he had had a lot of success. He was a two-time Fargo all-american. He goes. The only reason you'd wait is if you just don't know, yeah, and if you think your stock's gonna go up, right, yeah. And and the reality was Charlie, stock wasn't gonna go any higher in terms of the recruiting process, like, who knows, maybe, maybe he goes and wins Fargo and Penn State comes calling or something. You know you're not gonna go much right, right, higher. I'm like and I said to him well, is your mind gonna change, if some, if some of these big, bigger, even bigger than Minnesota right now, which there's only Iowa and you know, and state like no, he's like this is where I want to go on, like then I hope you make your decision before the season starts, if you're, if you know where you want to go.

Speaker 3: 1:46:19

That was the only thing, and and I could see the next day. So he committed Saturday night and then he called coach Schwab. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. That was when they were talking and he came downstairs and told me what coach Schwab had said, who I, you know, it's just respect so much. Yeah, you can just see there was kind of a weight lifted off of the shoulders. He said hey, dad, you want to go play horse. And we went out and played horse, nice with a nice afternoon, and so I was really glad that that part of it was was yeah, beyond, be behind him.

Speaker 2: 1:46:50

It sounds like obviously the process was was easier for him because of the support system he has, you guys, and you guys were allowing him to grow, you know, with the, the mental side of it and taking charge of. I mean, like you said, these kids are 16, 17 making a four-year, five-year, six-year decision, yeah, that's, that's tough, you know, I like you. Tough for me at 45, you know, like I do, do I want to sign this mortgage paperwork? I don't know if I wanted, right, you know. But right.

Speaker 2: 1:47:16

But these kids are. They're under a lot of stress, they're, they're sports, there's all this other stuff going on. So you guys did a great job. Thanks, my kid made a great decision.

Speaker 3: 1:47:24

I think I said this. We've at zero buyers remorse. Like every time we interact with that school, we realize that it's the right fit for him, and that doesn't mean Minnesota is the right fit for everyone, right, I think it's a great place, yeah, but I've not. There hasn't been a one second where I'm like you know, oh man, maybe we should, maybe we should have encouraged him to wait a little longer and pick a different place.

Speaker 2: 1:47:46

You guys did a great job Well, and we're excited to watch him this season. I'm hopefully well and we'll start wrapping up, or you've been out, for we gotta save some energy for teague and those guys for when you're yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:47:56

Yeah, I'm super excited to hang with teague and Steve and you know I'd like I'm excited for you, you know, With vision quest, because I'm old enough To remember when vision quest came out on the screen, right yeah that's right. I love where Wisconsin wrestling is going and your podcast, brad and what. What Steve and teague started doing and now you know what Jake, jacob and our cue are doing.

Speaker 2: 1:48:27

Like it just brings positive attention to our sport and our sports hard, but it's by far the best best there are so many interesting people within the sport, especially the state, because there's gems that you don't know about and there's like the stories that you're bringing up. I mean, you don't know about this stuff until you put people out there and just want to talk about the story.

Speaker 3: 1:48:45

You know what I'm saying here's one last piece of history for you with it in closing. Yeah, I have watched every single Four times state champ in the history of Wisconsin wrestling, with the exception of Matt Bianchi, because that was the COVID year, and all in the same place.

Speaker 2: 1:49:04

That's right, that's right. So, with that being said, what were you talking about? All divisions as well.

Speaker 3: 1:49:09

All divisions, oh my god, wow, the first four times state champion in in Wisconsin wrestling history was Matt Haneutki and I think I think it was 1990 that he won his fourth state title. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen every single one of them when their fourth state title since with the exception of Matt Haneutki who did it when when the three state tournaments were separated at cold because of COVID well, I'm glad I could have you on.

Speaker 2: 1:49:40

Like I said, this has been something that I've been thinking about for a while, just because of again.

Speaker 2: 1:49:44

You know Charlie and you know everyone wants to see Charlie and Liam and now they want to know why Liam's ducking Charlie and I don't care.

Speaker 2: 1:49:52

But with the, with the history that you guys have within the sport, within the state, and the knowledge that you have and the Stories that you have, these are the types of shows that I want to have, because then people kind of get an idea of how deep the generations go with the sport and and how people really respect the sport and I respect a lot of the guys are in it referees to coaches, to Everybody that's involved in it because it takes a lot and you're in charge of a team and you've been a coach for a long time and there's a lot of things to be said about that. When people keep a coach around like that, you're obviously doing something right, so You're obviously keeping, keeping things in check. So I'm gonna leave it at that and I'm gonna tell you to tell Charlie Good luck this coming weekend. Wrestle hard, we'll be watching. We always love watching them wrestle it's been fun watching him evolve the hand fight.

Speaker 2: 1:50:41

What you were talking about is extremely effective now. So, yes, he's Doing a great job with that. So I'm gonna change up this banner here and I'm gonna tell everybody Thank you for tuning in, appreciate it. Hope you guys enjoyed listening Ernie. I know I had a great time listening to him. You guys pay attention and watch for him to be coaching this year and watch Charlie, because he's gonna kill it this year and he's gonna kill it at Minnesota, I guarantee you.

Speaker 3: 1:51:06

Yeah, that Kirk kid's gonna be pretty competitive at 165 this year too. Man, I got a feeling Madison.

Speaker 2: 1:51:12

I hope so and I think we will. I think well, but I'm, I'm keeping my mouth closed now. I'm not gonna. I'm gonna let things kind of play out how they need to play out. I'm not a boy, that he's gonna do, what do is gonna do, but with that I bid you guys to do. We're gonna talk a little bit on the back side, just like I do with everybody. But thanks, everyone appreciate it. Peace.