The Winning Mindset
The Winning Mindset is for empowering athletes, parents, and coaches to excel in sports and life. We focus on building mental toughness, positive attitudes, and promoting personal growth through shared insights and motivational content.
The Winning Mindset
Faith, Football, and Family: The Patrick Daberkow Journey
What happens when faith, football, and innovative thinking collide? Coach Patrick Daberkow of Concordia University Nebraska reveals the blueprint for building men of character while creating a winning program.
In this candid conversation, we explore how Coach Daberkow transformed from troubled teenager to head football coach through the dual influences of faith and football. "God used football as a ladder to help me get out of the pit I had dug for myself," he shares, explaining how this personal transformation now shapes his coaching philosophy. Rather than compartmentalizing his faith, Dabraco has integrated it into every aspect of his program.
The results speak for themselves. Concordia just completed their best season in 24 years, going 8-2 with a player-led culture that prioritizes character over talent. Dabraco's approach to recruiting focuses on finding young men who "talk to people, not about people," creating a locker room free of cliques and selfishness. His memorable "drip rock" analogy demonstrates how small, consistent actions create permanent change—just as water droplets eventually carve paths into solid stone.
Perhaps most refreshing is Daberkow's approach to work-life balance: "You don't have to lay your families down at the altar of success." In an era when coaches often sacrifice everything for wins, he models healthy priorities while still achieving exceptional results. His innovative spirit also led to creating the Headset App, now used by hundreds of programs across seven countries as an affordable alternative to traditional communication systems.
Whether you're a coach seeking fresh inspiration, a parent wondering how athletics can positively shape character, or simply someone interested in leadership principles that work, this episode delivers practical wisdom from someone who's building a legacy beyond the scoreboard. As Daberkow says about his impact: "I think you want them to remember that you cared about them."
Hey everybody, it's Chris. Welcome back to the Winning Mindset Podcast. Very excited for today's episode to have Coach Patrick Dabraco on with me today. He is the head coach at Concordia University in Nebraska for their football team. He also created an app called the Headset app, which my coaches and I use during practices and during games for communication purposes. Instead of buying a super expensive comm system, we decided to go this route with an app simple headphones, easy peasy, no problem. But his story is awesome.
Speaker 1:I actually did a testimonial video for him two weeks ago, asked if he would be interested in hopping on the podcast with me just to kind of share his story, share his insight, his heart as a coach for the program, for what he does, for a living, day in and day out. Just such a great guy, such a great godly man. Super excited for you to hear what he has to share today. Jeff couldn't be with us today because he's on vacation with his family, which is way more important than doing a podcast episode. But what we're going to do is like a similar episode a couple of weeks ago he's going to hop on on the back half and give us a couple key takeaways. So let's get started, coach.
Speaker 1:Uh, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know, uh, we were just talking before recording that, uh, you're starting ball. Things are kicking into gear for the 2025 season, so I greatly appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to jump on and us get to talk with you kind of. You share your story, where you come from and your leadership skills as a coach. I'm super excited being a football coach on the youth level. I love getting to hear from the guys that do it for a living and know so much more about it than me. So I'm super excited to hear your story. But why don't we take a quick moment, let you introduce yourself and let everybody get to know you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I appreciate you having me on, chris. My name is Patrick Dabraco. I'm the head football coach at Concordia University in Nebraska. We're an NAI program just outside of Lincoln, and I've been the head coach here for nine years. I came to Concordia University on a football scholarship in 2003, and I have a unique story in college coaching in that I'm at my alma mater and I just never left. I was a student assistant and then that turned into a graduate assistant job, and then that turned into a graduate assistant job, and then that turned into a full-time role as defensive coordinator in 2010, and then head coach in 2017.
Speaker 1:I got you. That's awesome. I'm also a Bulldogs fan, but a Georgia Bulldogs fan, and you know head coach at UGA also was a former alumni. So that's parallel stories a little bit. But you know, I guess he left and ventured around a couple different places before coming back, so um, but that's cool. So you played uh defensive back.
Speaker 3:That's correct yeah, I was. Uh, I played for madison high school. It's in northeast nebraska, that's where I was born and raised and I played quarterback and free safety in high school, played both ways. You know we had a graduating class of like 50 small-town. I got you, I got you. So I got to play quarterback in one of those wing tee, one of those butt-sniffered fullback offenses. You know you're a lead blocker at quarterback you are throwing the ball. So, yeah, quarterbacked the ball. So I ran quarterback the wing T offense and just played with some phenomenal guys and then came to Concordia university and played, played for you.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, that's awesome, and so so you. You live there now with your wife and kids you have. You want to tell us a little bit about your family?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I actually met my wife at Concordia. She played basketball and ran track here. Oh nice and um. We and we got married. When I did all the, I talked to recruits about this a lot, but we did all the things you're not supposed to do when you're a GA. We got married and we bought a house, and so we we'd been in Seward since 2000,. Well, my whole adult life I got you, but we bought a house. We bought a house in 2000. I think we got married in 2008. Bought a fixer-upper house in 2009, and then Kimley came along in 2012. Our oldest is 13, and then we have Brent is 12. Our son, roman is 8, and our daughter, blake, is 6. That's awesome, very blessed, got healthy kids and we're definitely a sports family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so I'm a girl dad too. I've actually got two boys, one girl, so a little bit different as far as boy-girl ratio with you. But what's it like for you being a girl dad and being in sports? Because I always kind of joke with my daughter. She's going to be like the little girl from Remember the Titans. I feel like that's. She acts like she hates sports right now because she's like it's always on TV baseball, football, something's on. But what's it like for you being a girl dad?
Speaker 3:I mean it's awesome Having you know. Roman was our third, so we had Kinley and Bryn kind of back-to-back there. I got you. They both are very sports-oriented. We've got some hoopers in the family, nice. My wife was a varsity head basketball coach for a little bit, okay, and so it just kind of runs in the family. And we actually just poured a cement pad for a basketball hoop last week in the backyard so that was kind of a big deal for our family. We spent a lot of money on a backboard and a cement pad for a court. So yeah, we do. The girls have done softball and track and basketball, volleyball, all those things. It's been a blast. Our youngest, my wife, is coaching her soccer team. Oh yeah, yeah, nice Doing all the stuff.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's awesome, man. So with being there in Concordia. So Concordia is, like you said, an NAIA school, so it's a little bit of research about it that I looked it up so it's, so it's a Lutheran Christian school, Is that? Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. So so it obviously being being a Christian school. What, what, how? How do you use your, your, your faith influence to to to coach? How, how does that look like, as far as you know? Do you? How? How much do you allow that to influence your coaching style?
Speaker 3:Uh, well, it impacts every aspect of my life, and so the coaching and um, uh, that's it. That's a great question. So it's, I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm aware of my stammering right now, because I want to figure out the right, the right way to ask my question, because it really is integrated in everything that we do as a coaching staff. That's awesome. It's important to me personally.
Speaker 3:Jesus Christ changed my life when I was 17, and it was really through football. I had really done some stupid things and gotten myself in some trouble, and you know, I found myself at the bottom of a pit that I had dug for myself, and God used football as a ladder to help me get out of it. My coaches and I've had a lot of great influences in my life, and my parents loved each other, they loved God and they loved me, and if you have that, you really are born on third base, regardless of anything else. If you have that in place, you have, you are, you are blessed beyond measure, and so that definitely described my childhood. And and yet I made some stupid decisions and got myself in some trouble, and, and football was one of those things that was kind of the carrot at the end of the stick for me, and and so there is not an aspect of my life that hasn't been touched by Jesus Christ or football. You know, those things are pretty important and um, and they uh, they're integrated into each other, and so, uh, god has used football in my life as a way to uh fill it with purpose.
Speaker 3:Uh, as you know, coaching is about relationships and relationships and life is messy, and so to be able to just kind of step in there, step into the mess, and just roll up your sleeves and fight alongside guys who are trying to figure out life and help them navigate all the ins and outs and the ups and downs, it says in Matthew 7 and in other parts of the Gospel it talks about the wise man builds his house on the rock and the fool builds his house on the sand, and the storms come, and the takeaway is that we build our house on the rock of Jesus Christ, but sometimes we overlook that the storm still hits both houses, and so it's important for our guys. There's a ministry aspect of coaching football, but there's a discipleship aspect of it too, and, yeah, it's the reason I'm excited to coach football Absolutely, and it touches every part of my life for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, I feel like we could just finish there and be like all right, that perfect podcast man, I, I love everything that you just said. Like that's, that's spot on. I'll never forget, obviously, I'm youth level, I'm, I'm volunteer, but, like I, I remember and I shared this with jeff my, my co-host, we, when we did his podcast episode, but I'll never forget I remember sitting in church one day and, and our pastor, he coaches high school baseball. He actually played at liberty university, uh, for baseball in the in the 80s, but, um, but that's what I love about him is it's everything, every, every message has a sports tie to it and uh, but I'll never forget him saying that about like we wear a lot of hats as coaches and and god puts us in the opportunities and the positions that we're in to to glorify him and to make him known.
Speaker 1:And you know, and I remember him saying that, like when you put the coach hat on, you're not just a coach, right, that's your opportunity to share, jesus and I, I just remember like feeling a ton of bricks drop in my lap when I heard that. And like you know, and you know, with football, like we're not perfect, right, we, you know, we make mistakes, we get hot, we get emotional, like that, that stuff happens you know, and you know, with football, like we're not perfect right, you know we make mistakes, we get hot, we get emotional, like that stuff happens.
Speaker 1:You know, because you know, as Scripture says, we've all fallen short of the glory of God at times and we still do it, even when we are believers.
Speaker 1:But you know, I just remember him saying that and I remember going back to my coaches after that and it was like right as football season started, but right as football season started.
Speaker 1:But I remember saying we have to remember that, even on the youth level, like we may be the only chance that those kids get to see Jesus, like we may be the only version of Jesus that they ever see, and it's important that we remember that carrying in the way that we conduct ourselves and the way that we speak and the way that we coach, and it revolutionized a lot of the way that I coach. So that's phenomenal to hear and obviously for you, on the, on the collegiate level, they're becoming men even more than they are at, you know, the nine, 10 year old level, and it's even more so in that moment in their life is when it's so important that you know they, that they are learning and understanding and and and and getting to know the Lord, because it's setting them on an important pace in life and a certain track in life. So hats off to you, man. I love everything that you said about that Building men for Christ. What does that look like for you as far as like an actual football context?
Speaker 3:It's about the conversations in the hallway. It's about the pre-practice and post-practice. I think a lot is made of culture, and rightfully so. You talk about locker room culture and things like that and the temperature that you set. As a coach, I think I can put on as many formal programs as I want to put on and I can have as many classroom setting teaching sessions about that stuff, but I think it's really about how you greet each other in the morning. It's how you say hi to each other. It's just basically the warmth of conversation and getting to know people.
Speaker 3:I think it's really important that, um, you know, as uh, I got, I got a uh, a locker room full of uh, a hundred plus 18 to 22 year old alpha males, you know, and in that environment it's it's definitely one where you, your temptation, is to stick your chest out a little bit further and you know, I think there's merit to that at some points in your life. You know, sometimes you just got to grit and bear it. But I think it's really important that we have real honest conversations, that we have guys. You know our big defensive linemen, you know they got mamas too, as a coach once said, you know, I think it's really important to not lose sight of the fact that at some point in time, the cleats are going to come off and the helmet's going to come off for the last time, and it's going to just be time to take all the lessons that football has taught us and incorporate those lessons into our lives as leaders, because God made us leaders.
Speaker 3:Whether we're good leaders or bad leaders is truly the question, because you're going to be a leader, sure, I think the sport of football there's so many natural tie-ins to that and any team sport where you can talk about self-sacrifice and the good of the group. I think it's really important to pull those lessons out and apply them as individuals. And so it's a fun thing to see the maturity from freshman year to senior year and when they graduate. And we actually had and this should be a recruiting point for me I should use this more in recruiting, but four out of our five offensive linemen were either engaged or married last year, and so with COVID we had some guys who were like sixth-year guys, but it's fun to see the maturity from when they arrive at 18 to when they leave as a 12-year-old.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and let's talk about that a little bit, since you brought that up as far as the senior class. So I noticed scrolling through the football page on Facebook that it looked like you did a senior awards day. I'm not sure the whole context behind what was happening, but what I did see in that I saw tool belts and it had their jersey numbers on it. I'm so intrigued and curious as far as like what the meaning behind all that was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, here I got one in my office. I actually talk about this with the recruits, so we give all of our seniors tool belts with a hammer in it on senior day. It's just how we celebrate senior day. It's symbolic, you know. We want people to leave Concordia University football being equipped to be servant leaders, and so it's symbolic in that regard. But we also want it to be practical.
Speaker 3:I'm a big believer in able-bodied young men being a benefit to their community.
Speaker 3:I think college players get a bad rap a lot of times and I want people to know that if they have a Concordia University football player, move in next to them, that that's a good thing and they're going to be there to help.
Speaker 3:Not everybody's gifted with the physical capabilities that some of the guys leave here with, and so to put that to good use, I think is a good thing. I heard it said that our job it's a good thing to have aggressive young men in your community. You know our goal is not to make aggressive young men less aggressive, them good and useful as a way to kind of shine a shine a light into the the best parts of young men who who have that, uh, aggression, and it's it's a good thing, it's a good thing to embrace it, we want to harness it and we want to point it towards good things. 100. So, yeah, we give our, our seniors, a tool belt and, uh, it's meaningful. It's become a tradition for us and we're trying to make it uh kind of cooler every year and so we have one of our alums uh stamped all of them with uh, with our logo and their number and everything this last year and it's uh, yeah, it's a it's a meaningful day, for sure.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, that's, that's super cool. Let's, let's. So let's talk about your wife Emily a little bit. As far as it's, it's tough being a coach's wife, I'm sure, with the demanding schedule. So what role does she play in your journey from? I mean, we can start at the GA level, we can start at the college level when you guys met, but what role does she play for you? As far as I know, obviously she's got to be a phenomenal support system to you, but if you don't mind, I would love for you to share about that and how she helps you and how that supports the family mission as well, as far as what you guys are there to do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Emily is as competitive as I am, which makes it fun. Yeah, she is a college athlete and yeah, I think we share a very similar sense of humor and you know she loves Jesus too, and so that that she's. You know your phone rings in the middle of the night. She's never rolled her eyes at that. She's always been supportive of go do what you need to do and go be there for the people that need you. Yeah, that's awesome. Go be there for the, for the people that that need you, and yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:As, as your kids get older, um, you realize that, like man, time, time freaking flies, and so you, you kind of have to put some, uh, you gotta leave your phone away from you sometimes and you gotta, you gotta not take some calls at some points. But the part of the job is recruiting and part of the job is just like being there for your guys, and so part of it is, you know it's a, it's a family endeavor, coaching football. Everybody's involved. There's not an aspect of our life that Concordia football hasn't touched, you know, in great ways. And then also in like, in some some uh, some time-consuming ways at times, and emily's been great through all of it and, um, yeah, there's not. Uh, it's really hard to articulate just how much she means to me personally because, uh, without getting emotional about it, you know yeah hey, it's all right it's all right, it it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she has been phenomenal. Kimley, our daughter was born on Friday before we had a road game and the team left in the hotel. Kimley was born Friday afternoon. I left at 5 am the next morning to go on up to meet the team and call the defense. I got the coordinator and we just got it handed to us. In hindsight I shouldn't have gone to that game and you learn through your mistakes. Sure, emily is the best thing in my life, the biggest blessing I have.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man, that's awesome. Yeah, shout out to her. I mean my wife. I feel the same way in every aspect of my life. It's funny. Our kids are on spring break right now and I was like, hey, I'm recording a podcast. She was like I'll keep the kids quiet downstairs.
Speaker 2:So you can go and record.
Speaker 1:It's cool, even doing this project and starting this podcast, how supportive she's been. Like you said, sometimes it's the thankless sacrifices that they do, that it's just. You know, we're the ones out in the forefront because we're doing the ones doing stuff in the, in that and that servant leadership. That is what it is, I mean they're. They're, hey, what do you need me to do? Keep the kids quiet, keep them downstairs. Hey, we're gonna, we'll go, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean it's things like that, that like we sometimes take for granted and don't realize, and it's those sacrifices that they make. So, yes, shout out to all coaches' wives. That's a tough job in and of itself and I always tell my wife I'm like I don't know, I wouldn't know where to start if, heaven forbid, something happens to you. I hope all your best friends know you know the things that I need to know because I'm going to be calling them and like hey, did she ever? I think like Nate Bregazzi I don't know if you ever listened to him he always talks about that. He's like he says the same thing.
Speaker 1:Like what bus did my kids ride? Like you know, you know where she kept the money? Like that, that kind of stuff. My wife's the same way and I'm super thankful for her. I appreciate you sharing that about Emily and how supportive she is with you and with the university in and of itself, with helping with the team culture, the culture you've built. From what I've read and understand, you're very big on a player-led team environment. Is that correct? Yeah, absolutely Awesome, awesome. Do you mind sharing about that a little bit?
Speaker 3:No, I think that a coach is only going to take you so far. As a head football coach, I think my number one job is to be a gatekeeper for our locker room and for our coaching staff and making sure that we are surrounding the program with the right people and we're bringing people in that fit the right mentality. It's really important. If you can get things right on the front end, I think it takes care of most of your off-field issues, or most of your locker room cancers, for lack of a better term. It's important to me that we bring in guys who kind of embody our standards and there's a bunch of fancy things that people can say about culture but at the end of the day, how we define it is, it's what you tolerate, it's what you celebrate and whether or not you're consistent with it, and so we try to be clear with our players about expectations. We also, you know, we're an NAI program. We don't throw around a lot of NIL money, the transfer portal for us. We've had guys come in from the transfer portal, but by and large we're a four-year program. Guys are going to come in here. We're a four-year program. Guys are going to come in here and have a four-year experience and when a kid comes in, I don't care when he comes in or how he comes in, but if he fits what we're looking for and we just don't want him to leave I believe the stakes are really high. You know leadership and being husbands and fathers and leaders in the community when you're, when you're done, playing football and, um, if that's done right, this thing can be a huge blessing. And if it's done, if it's done selfishly, it can cause a lot of mess for other people to have to clean up. And so we want guys in the locker room who are going to be selfless, first and foremost because this is a team sport and this last year our best players were our hardest workers, and so that set the tone for everything. I think a coach can only take your group so far. I think we are limited because you're just, you're not. It's who you have in the locker room. I talk a lot. Some people refer to themselves or some people talk about player coaches.
Speaker 3:We are a locker room first coaching staff, so the strength or the weakness of your program is going to be your locker room when there's no coaches around, because, at the end of the day, they ultimately set the tone and set the culture, and so we want to make sure we're bringing in guys who talk to people, not about people. We don't want cliques and rivalries. We want guys who are pulling for each other, and that impacts. When you see, when the wide receivers and DBs do one-on-ones, that's like the biggest. That's the most ripe time for all the trash talk and all that stuff.
Speaker 3:We try and focus on just doing our jobs at a high level and not get too sucked into all of that, because you know, at the end of the day, you don't want people on your team rooting for other people to fail. And if you have a culture where you have guys who are just out there trying to get better and they don't care what they look like, if a guy gets beat, they want to just get another rep so they can get better. They don't need anybody kicking them while they're down. That's the mentality, that's the approach that we have as a staff, and we've got some players who give us a little bit of feedback on that. Hey, coach, I play better when I'm talking and stuff like that. That's the stance that we take and, oh yeah, build a cohesive unit.
Speaker 1:So yeah, no, I get that. It it is. You know, it's the, the mental warfare that, uh, that has all of a sudden been coached on the high school level. You see it, where they're like, hey, talk trash, talk trash because it's you know, that's how they're. I mean, that's how they're taught is is to talk trash because they think getting in the other you know whether you're the receiver getting in the DB's head or vice versa you know they think that for some reason, all of a sudden it's going to cause mistakes. You know on the opposite end and help them out.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that's, I love that mindset of a we culture. You know what I mean, and that's hats off to you again. I we culture, you know what I mean. And and and that's a hats off to you again, I love that aspect of of coaching it that way. Obviously, every season right, you know you always hope for every season to go great. You know, along the way we, you run into adversity here and there, whether it's injury, whether it's a a loss that you weren't expecting or whatever it is. But but how do you stay grounded? How do you keep your players focused through adversity, like I said, whether that's injury or whatever that may be?
Speaker 3:I think it's all about your locker room leadership. Yeah, because I can say all the perfect things, but if, when I leave the locker room, we've got guys who roll their eyes or start pointing fingers, it doesn't matter what I say. What matters is the reaction that it elicits from the players. And so if you have players who have you know, a lot of people talk about buy-in, and I think that's probably an overused word but if you have players who are in your program, who believe the things that you believe about the game and about teamwork and self-sacrifice, then I think you got a shot. We ultimately, like we, went eight and two this last year.
Speaker 3:We started out three and two, though, and so it was not the easiest start to this season, and winning helps, you know, if you, if you're you know when you're having seasons and we've all had them where you know, if you have a losing, going to be trying to solve problems and get better and figure out, uh, the next step. But if you are, if you're winning, it's easier to enjoy each other's company rather than uh always be having to work on fixing things and so, so, so winning. I think winning compounds, you know, and the more you win, the easier it is to keep winning I shouldn't say the easier it is to keep winning. In no aspect of any level of any football is winning easy, but I do think that winners win. When you have a group of guys who know how to win, then they know how to handle tough situations. Our guys didn't let the losses early on in the season define us and I was really proud of what they were able to do, yeah.
Speaker 1:As soon as you said that about winning, making everything easier, I literally was thinking, no. I remember my high school coach saying the more you win, the bigger the target on your back gets. Don't think that all of a sudden, because you're winning, everything's going to be, you know, easy street, so, um, but let's talk about that eight and two season. I, you know, I, I, based on everything that I saw right. You guys, you guys ranked as high as number 17 in nia. Is that that correct?
Speaker 3:yep, yeah. So yeah, we, we went, um, went eight and two. Uh, it was the best season, best record we had in 24 years and it was 23 years actually and um it it's all relative. You know, coming from where we came from, um, the season before we were 500 and felt like we left a lot on the table and then, early in the season, you know, we did not play up to our standard in our two losses and so then we went on the road in week five and we were able to.
Speaker 3:Maybe it was week six we went on the road and played the number two team in the country and we were able to beat them by 12 points on their home field and then rattled off I think think five straight to end the season. We're undefeated on the road and really built, felt like we built a case for the postseason. Ultimately that didn't happen and our guys were really disappointed with that. But there wasn't a team we wouldn't. We wouldn't have played at the end of the season. I think it was a fun group to coach and I definitely will look back on the 2024 Bulldogs and always smile as a fun group.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. Maybe a little bit of a chip on the shoulder with the postseason snub, you know, not getting in. I love to coach in a motivational way. It's like positive energy, but like, if I can, like can put a chip on a kid's shoulder, I feel like it turns them into another beast. As far as going into that, it's like hey, you were doubted. Good luck this season. I definitely will be cheering you guys on all the way from Georgia seeing how the season goes for you guys. As far as that goes, I know mentality, chemistry and preparation. We kind of talked about that. But if you could enlighten us a little bit deeper on that, what made that team so special to get you to that point last season?
Speaker 3:Well, I think we had a lot of competition and a lot of depth. You know, our talented players were extremely talented and, at the end of the day, if you have more talented players than the other team, you're going to win the game. And now, uh, we we've we've definitely we've just had great players and our coaches have done a great job of putting them in good positions to win. Coach Osten, our defensive coordinator so I came up as the defensive coordinator when I got the head coaching job. Corby Osten was our D-line coach the entire time I was D-coordinator, and so he and I have worked together since 2009. And it was like my level of trust is really high with him and so I've probably taken a further step back from our defense, just knowing that it's in good hands, a further step back than I had originally planned on. But then moved over to the offensive side of the ball, which kind of caused I guess my trust level with Coach L gave me reason to feel comfortable moving over to the offensive side of the ball and you know we have a great group of coaches and players that really it has made coaching a lot of fun. It's made it perfect. We're aligned on you know, know why we're here and what we're doing, and and so the the winning, I think, is a byproduct of a united staff that has camaraderie and that, you know, works together well.
Speaker 3:Greg nelson is our quarterbacks coach. He calls our plays on offense now. And grady cook is our offensive line coach. Trent Lonnie works our special teams and safeties. We have a lot of alums who coach with us. Devin Ziegler is our running backs coach. He was a top 10 running back in our school's history. Vince Beasley has been our wide receivers coach. Justin Hoffman worked with running backs. He's coached a bunch of different positions for us, done a great job. Ron Jackson, chris Shipley, courtney Meyer all guys who have put in a lot of time. Wyatt Nichols and Kevin Kroom have come from a rival university down the road and have made a big impact on our staff.
Speaker 3:You're really doing a lot of stuff. From an administrative standpoint we have great support, but you know, devin Smith and Angela Muller have been awesome. And then we really have in our athletic department a lot of coaches who are very driven and have had a ton of success in their careers, and so to just be able to go from office to office and bounce ideas off of other people has been a real pleasure and it's fun to see the success not only of one program but of many, and see how that kind of builds on itself, and so it was a fun year last year. We look forward to sustaining uh success and taking it to the next level. Uh, we're absolutely. To say a chip on the shoulder is probably an understatement. You know small college football, so a lot of the guys that we have feel like they were overlooked at some point in the process and, um, you know, we definitely have a chip on the shoulders a good way to say it. But we're excited for the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome, that's awesome. I I also like to point out that that must have been a test tornado siren during the whole time.
Speaker 3:You were Welcome to Nebraska. It's April.
Speaker 1:I was like man. You tell you're from the Midwest, like you're not even flinching, don't even look remotely concerned.
Speaker 3:I'm bummed that that hopefully I didn't screw up your recording.
Speaker 1:It's all good. It's all good. I thought it was funny. You were like perfectly calm and chill and I was like, okay, I'm going to go with. It's a test warning, because he's not like headed, you know, headed for the safety or anything like that. So I grew up in a um air force town, uh, down in in central georgia and it's the second largest air force base robin's air force base and f-16s are like that's like one of the main hubs for the f-16s. So all day like you're hearing sonic boom, sonic boom, sonic boom. So if you're not from there, like you, you hear those. And it's like people all of a sudden think war is happening just instantly.
Speaker 1:They're like you know they're ducking and freaking out, but like, if you're from there, it's exactly how you are. You're just like nonchalant, it's like the wind blowing and you're like not even fazed by it. So I was, but yeah, I was listening to that. I was like I guess everything's okay, he's not freaking out right now, so I think everything's good. So, um, that that's hilarious. Um, but let's so. So, as far as like player development, academic excellence, like you know, I will say that, like some of the things I saw, right, you've gone 10 consecutive seasons with at least one all-american player is. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:yeah yeah, I've been. And then, you know, as far as creating academic culture, you know, with a competitive football environment, how do you, as a coach and as a head coach, make sure that you're pushing academic excellence along with competitive excellence?
Speaker 3:Well, I'll tell you this when I first got the job, I had a really robust plan for how we were going to do classroom checks and make sure that we were catching kids if they're skipping class. Um, and, and we were gonna. We were, we were going to be the reason our players had academic success or or not, and so it was a failed. That was a whole failed endeavor. I'll tell you that we just started recruiting kids we could trust, because at the end of the day, the kids are going to skip class, they're going to skip class, and then a lot of them are going to run for it, and then it's going to happen again. But if you can recruit kids who have a vision for their life and what they want to do and who they want to be, we'll hold you accountable to that. But we're not going to babysit you. Walking to class, going to class is part of being a student athlete and that's the most minimum expectation that we can have, and so we've had a record number of academic All-Americans this last year. We've had a team GPA over 3.0 for some time now, and we will have that again this season. I'm very confident about that, but I think it's a lot about the guys that you bring in and are you clear with the expectations on the front end? If you need me to babysit you and walk you to class, you should probably go find another place to play. I have, I have, the energy to hold you accountable to who you, who you say you want to be, um, but that doesn't mean I'm walking you to class because, uh, we're just, we don't, we don't play that here. Yeah, we really just need guys to buckle down and do their work and we have systems in place to catch kids when they're slipping, and sometimes you're up early. I'm trying to avoid saying running guys, because we've really gone away from that. We don't run guys as much as we used to. I used to run the dog out of kids when they'd skip class or miss class for something, and it you know it just, uh, it never. It did help with some of them. You know the hill behind the stadium will will speak to 18 to 22 year olds. Yes, I know that firsthand. Uh, however, we have, we have some checks and balances in place place to help resource kids if they're struggling in a certain class.
Speaker 3:I was never strong academically. I learned a lot more from football than I did in the classroom, and that's just the reality of it. That's what motivated me and I'm not shy about that. And football was really important in my life and continues to be, and it's okay. You can be a student athlete and care a lot about football and go to class and get great grades. You get a great education. I probably didn't appreciate it when I was going through school, the education I was getting, but I think that's somewhat natural for a lot of kids to kind of take it for granted. And if you don't have a clear vision for what you want to do, then it's easier to slip academically. But if you know what you want to do with your life and you have goals, then I think pursuing academic excellence is a byproduct of understanding what it is you're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's huge. You say that you didn't take your academics seriously, but you finished with a bachelor's and a master's degree. Is that correct? Yeah, you at least took it somewhat more serious than giving yourself a little bit of credit and grace there. Don't act like you like did nothing.
Speaker 3:Well, when you, when you, when you uh, when you go from being, uh, uh, a student athlete on campus to being a colleague with the professors who used to sit in my classes, there's like an awkward thing there for a few years. But, um, you know, because you're like man I, you know I, yeah, I have a master's, but I was never a strong student. You know, I just like man, I, you know I, yeah, I have a master's, but I was never a strong student, you know I just I really wanted to coach football and and I felt like the longer my educational process went on, the more applicable it got, and so it made it a little bit more fun. But yeah, the professors here have been, have been great, and it's been fun to call them by their first names, you know.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine like?
Speaker 3:what college would have been like had ChatGPT existed. That's an interesting thing that we're all dealing with now, because I think I can tell when I get an email that's been ChatGPT'd. Yeah, I think I can tell when I get an email it's been chat GPT'd. Yeah, but it's the new thing. I don't think it's going to go away. Oh, yeah, figure out how to harness it. Yeah, redeem it a little bit, but yeah, I don't know what's going to come of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest, a lot of my emails and things like that, like I'm driving down the road, hey, write an email for this and make sure this and I like it. Just for the grammar standpoint. Like I I am the world's worst with grammar and so for my like my aspect of using it, I'm like, yes, please correct it so I don't sound dumb and like my friends will give me a lot of crap about it because they'll go. I can tell that that was not the way you talk and I'm like you're right, but you know I don't want people to know that I'm. You know I'm as dumb and ignorant as I come across when I text on my own. So, try, try my hardest. You know seem a little bit put together every now and then.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, that's good. I think that there's going to be some interesting things that come from AI and kind of this as this evolution unfolds. It seems like when technology came out, a lot of people wanted to integrate it into the classroom, and I think a lot of people have done a good job of that. And then now we're starting to see. You know, there are some books that are coming out. Specifically, jonathan Haidt has a book called the Anxious Generation and we're seeing kind of the effects of screen time on young people and social media and all that stuff.
Speaker 3:And so as technology continues to evolve, it'll be interesting to see how we evolve and adapt to kind of make sure it doesn't overwhelm everything, and that's why it's fun working. You know I'm eyeball to eyeball with guys every day and you know there's some things that a computer can't teach, and so it's going to be interesting. But I think our academic future is bright. I think we'll be able to handle it and embrace it and figure it out. Yeah right, I think we'll be able to handle it and embrace it and figure it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, since, since we're on the, the, the technology you know, note, let's, let let's transition to talk about your, your newest end endeavor. I say newest. It's been around for a couple of years now, right, but, uh, but let's, let's actually how you and I got connected. Was you reaching out to me about about doing interview, just kind of a testimonial to using it? But out to me about about doing interview, just kind of a testimonial to using it? But, but you, alongside some other people, created what's called the headset app. Do you want to share a little bit about? Well, I'll let you share what it's about and let you let you really dive into the, to the ins and outs of it, but, but tell us a little bit about what the headset app is yeah, so, um, so when I, when I got the head coaching job, uh, uh, one of the things that you're you're new to is your budgets and I had no idea how much headsets cost.
Speaker 3:I knew they were expensive, but I got a bill. I got one bill for over $60,000 for 10 headsets, um, and then I got another bill for $42,000 from another company for for 10 headsets. And, uh, you know, I was at the time I had just gotten AirPods for Father's Day and I like to listen to books on, you know, shout out to Audible. I listen to a lot of books and podcasts and things like that, and so I always had an AirPod in and went to my friend Nick Topp and I said man we're just talking about it and he said you, we were just talking about it.
Speaker 3:And he said you know, I know some developers, and we just kind of talked about how there should be an app that replaces this whole need for headset systems. Because there's got to be a better way, there's got to be a common sense approach. Everything you need is probably in your pocket. I'm never too far from having my smartphone and my AirPods, and so all the technology that goes into your smartphone and your Bluetooth AirPods, your wired earbuds, all that technology, it kind of outpaces the technology that's being used for radio wave headset systems that coaches wear on the sidelines, and so it didn't make sense that it would cost so much. So we got together with developers. Mason Foxvog is our chief architect and he's just right out of Lincoln and he and two other developers, and then we have a sales guy full-time and, um, it's been, it's been a fun ride. Now I, I want to coach football. That's where my passion's at. Yeah, but when, when we started this down this road, it really resonated with people because, um, you know, every staff has a, a low man on the totem pole whose job it is to get the headsets ready. Most people don't use them for practice because they're going to weigh down in your shorts. They take forever to set up and tear down. You've got to charge them and then they break pretty easily. They're not durable, and so to be able to prototype test it in the spring of 2023 and then get it to the point where it was ready to launch, we launched in June of 2023, I think June 28th or 29th, something like that, and so it was just right before football season. We didn't really have time to set up marketing or anything like that, but we had 52 programs the first season that started using the headset app, that started using the headset app, and then this last season, our second year, we had over 250. And in the meantime, all of that, with some changes in baseball and softball, they made coach-to-catcher communications legal at the high school level and college level, and so we were really just in the right place at the right time to position ourselves for success in that, and so we were able to bring a common sense approach to that too. You don't need to buy thousands of dollars worth of hardware to meet your communication needs. You probably have everything you already need in your pocket, and we took that same approach to baseball and softball. We didn't have to really change any code with the app to make it applicable, and so we've been very active in baseball and softball. I think we've added over 800 teams in baseball and softball this baseball season, and so it's something that's really resonating with people.
Speaker 3:I think, as people carry around a smartphone all day and understand its capabilities, it just doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on communication systems that rely on hardware and are, frankly, just a little bit outdated. And so one other thing, one shocking thing for me, was when I got the bill for refurbishing. You have to send them in every year to get a refurbishment. You know, that's just part of it. I loved our headset people. I loved our headset guys who we had bought our headsets from.
Speaker 3:We just decided to take this on and go a different route and take a chance on building something. It's resonated with a lot of people. We're proud of it. I use it every day, at practice, every home game, every away game, and we're active in all 50 states and seven countries. Now, wow, I think we just added Denmark, nice. It's been kind of a fun thing. But I'm coaching football. I'm doing what I love, I'm pursuing my passion and this was just kind of a stumbling block that we ran into along the way that Nick and Mason and our team at the Headset App have really taken and ran with and it's been fun to see it grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. Well, you know, and I know you and I have shared this on separate recordings, but I do just want to stress, like it's something that I brought on to my on the youth level right, we're more rec level than anything, but, you know, even bringing it on and us using it, it's adapted the way and changed the way that we coach and the way that we're able to help kids on the youth level and develop them, and it gives us the ability to we use it for practices when we're running, you know, when we're running scout teams and when, you know, we obviously use it during games and it's helped us tremendously be able to give these kids such a better level of coaching because we're able to stand on different quadrants of the field and be able to coach our teams in our specific positions and we're able to be all over the field but still communicating together about things hey, let's see this, hey, let's adjust this, let's fix this and so, um, it's. It's helped us even in, even in the practice level. You know, if we're scrimmaging, if anything we're, we're constantly on it. Communicating helps with with with practice pace. You know, if we're trying to speed something up, trying to jump ahead to something. It helps us with that because we're able to communicate and I can talk this loud. I'm not having to scream 100, 200 yards away to tell somebody to get somebody's attention. I speak at this volume and can get somebody's attention. It's helped us tremendously.
Speaker 1:I'm super thankful for the app and to have it. You know, even for my program and I hope, this season, bringing it back, we can kind of, you know, get a couple of the other youth programs to use it. I've talked to several other teams that are within the whole organization league that we're in. You know about it too, and so they're interested. So hopefully, you know, we can bring more people, even at the youth level, you know, bring it on and use it, because I think it just brings a higher quality of coaching, you know, even even at that level.
Speaker 1:So I'm super thankful, you know, for for the fact that you took the time to to create that and and and. That's cool about baseball. I was literally going to ask you that. I wasn't sure if that was something that that you you had had to introduce it into that level because I noticed we go to a couple I don't know if you see there's a kensal state flag right here. We go to several of their baseball games and they use some kind of communication system, even like where, the, where the pitcher's wearing a, a watch, and I always wondered, like, is that is? Is that can be, I don't know, is that, would that be y'all's product that they would be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we, we have, uh, all the capabilities that you have, like with your, with your smart watch. Uh, we run everything, we can run everything through that. Um, some, some uh outside companies are selling just a their own branded hardware watch that's uh, it's not tagged to a cell phone system, and those, some of those uh companies are, um, just selling hardware like that. Our argument is you don't need any extra hardware. You probably have the most technologically capable stuff that's on the market you already probably own, and so that's kind of the whole premise behind the headset app is that you just use what's already in your pocket and then you don't have to mess around with the hardware and the wires and all that stuff. We have some people who really just love us because they don't have to mess around with wires anymore, you know. And then who are?
Speaker 3:Pricing is really upfront. You know we do a really deep discount for a annual pass, but you can do a season pass or it's just at 1999 per month. It's a. It's a monthly subscription service per coach at $20. And it's at a price point where coaches can afford. We're trying to bring a service-oriented mindset into coaching and a budget-friendly option. We want to level the playing field for maybe some schools who haven't been able to afford the stuff that other schools can afford, and so we are definitely trying to disrupt the market that just hasn't really been innovated in a long time and to be able to bring kind of a new idea. We were shocked that there wasn't something that already existed like this, and so, uh, to be able to, to build it and be on the front end of it has been a ton of fun yeah, well, I mean, you know, I mean obviously growing up playing football and you know the football coaching world it's you're talking about probably some of the most stubborn people in the world as coaches.
Speaker 1:Go right, it's, this is the way we've always done it. Why are we going to change it if it doesn't work? Right? I mean you think about, you know, even talking about right, teaching, different form of tackling, right, like when I played it was, throw your head in there and hope you bring them down, you know, and then all of a sudden now you see like, oh, shoot, all the CTE stuff's coming out and like, okay, maybe we really do need to look at changing the approach to the way we teach tackling. And you know like teaching the rugby style has become a big thing on, especially on the, on the younger levels.
Speaker 1:You know, with with football, and so, you know, hats off to you guys for being innovative and coming into that space and and and introducing something like that. That was much needed. You know to to get away from the comp system that you know, or, like you said, 40 to $60,000, I, you know, I, I think it's, I think it's a huge, incredible product to have you know on on any level of of sports that you're playing, you know, not just necessarily the collegiate level or professional level, I, you know, even even down to our youth level, it's. It's served its purpose tenfold and I will happily pay, you know, the cost of what it is to do it, because it's helped us and revolutionized the way that we're coaching. So, um, I'm absolutely thankful for it and glad, glad, you guys stepped into that space and brought it in. So, um, so let's, let's transition to to the concept of this podcast a little bit right, so it's called the winning mindset, and my approach to it when I brought it in was like, on the youth level, you know, we're, we're learning how to coach.
Speaker 1:A lot of times it's not, you know, it's not a professional career for us, and so when I started, I was, I was, you know, I was thrown in, kind of thrust into the coaching, didn't plan on doing it. Here you go now you're coaching a football team and and I, you know, I I picked up a lot of habits along the way, learned a lot of hard lessons along the way and figured out it. You know that I was, I was doing what I did right and what I did wrong. You know, very quickly and and honestly, and there's an episode that one of the very first ones I did on the on the podcast is talking with my 10 year old about to be 11 year old and and and you know, having him share his experiences of of being coached by me at the, at the, at the beginning of when I coached, to kind of going through the transition of when I realized, like the, the you know ins and outs and ups and downs of of the way that I was coaching, the good, the bad, the ugly and and kind of how you know, it affected him being a, being a coach's son and and and the, the rough relationship that we had at times because of the way that I was coaching and, um, you know, I, I, you know lesson learned, I know that I obviously was being a lot more destructive than constructive with him and in the way that I was coaching and and so, you know, coming out of a rough season a couple years ago, I really kind of started. I have a heart of like, hey, here's what I'm learning, that's better. And how do I put this on a platform to share, you know, and if it changes three people in the country's mind of how they coach. That's a success to me. You know, like that that's phenomenal, that that we can do it. So so that's kind of.
Speaker 1:That's kind of where the winning mindset comes from. Right, if we can, if we can shift our mindset to be, you know, productive and positive coaches. You know what I mean. And obviously there there's there's a discipline and structure and and and there's there's iron to iron moments where we do have to be, you know, rough and tough and I, you know I'm all for that. I grew up in a military town. Most of my coaches were all ex-military guys and and you know, I, I responded positively to that having a coach come down on me. But, um, you know, there's there, there's different ways of coaching and how, how we're being proper. So so that's kind of. The heart behind the winning mindset is, you know, how do we, how do we shift to a, to a great mindset and be being a productive coach, a productive parent, productive athlete? But, like, when you hear that phrase, the winning mindset for you, what, what, what does that? What does that automatically kind of draw your, your thoughts to as far as, like, what, what that means?
Speaker 3:Well, I think of, uh, there's a lot of books about it, um, about mindsets, and you think you think of the book mindset by Carol Dweck, or, um, you know, even, uh, there's psychology books that are really interesting. There's there's no end to the rabbit trail you can go down when you talk about mindsets and uh, and taking the proper mental approach to everything, it's obviously going to set you up for success or failure. You know, the way that you view things is going to either make your life, um, fun and exciting or or miserable, and uh, and so to me it's about reading out the selfishness. I think that's that's going to. I think, most of the time, when we're not in a growth mindset or when we're kind of stuck, I think it's probably because we're thinking of ourselves too much. Yeah, if you can get outside of that, I think, even as a coach and even as a you know, I've never been a youth coach, but I've had kids go through programs and I think the we've had wonderful coaches, we've been very blessed in that way. But you go to tournaments and you see some coaches who are just trying to win games and if that's what you're doing, especially at lower levels, you instill sometimes a panic in the kids, like a performance anxiety over just joy of the game, and if you love it you're going to keep coming back to it. But if it's constant, like pressure to win for an 8-year-old, like it's going to wear them out pretty quick, pretty quick, and that's having never coached youth sports, you're spot on, though.
Speaker 3:I think what's most important, especially at youth levels, is A just wanting them to come back. Having kids who want to come back, you just get to play the game. I think a lot of times if you come watch our practices here at Concordia university, you'll see a ton of 11 on 11. We just love playing the game and and I think kids are the same, and so if you can, if you can make it about the game, I think you're going to be, you're going to best serve your kids and and just getting them good at fundamentals. You know, teaching them how to catch and teach them how to throw and I don't know what.
Speaker 3:Like my son plays flag football right now. He's eight and they're not allowed to block and it just bugs the mess out. They use their hands. That's such an important aspect of football, but you know like it's the fundamentals, it's blocking and tackling. The fundamentals is blocking and tackling, and right plays in space and uh and closing in on opponents. Um, if we can just make it about the game, then it's usually fun. Uh, when it becomes only about winning and losing, then it's, you know, it just takes on like a I don't know it. It becomes more about us adults at that point, you know, and, and so it's. It's fun to see the development of young kids and watching them fall in love with the game, just like you and I did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, certainly it's fun yeah, well, I think to the note of the, the anxiety aspect that you're saying is, I think that, like what, what you do on the youth level by doing, especially by focusing on winning, winning, winning is is we don't teach kids to embrace failure and and and they, instead of embracing failure cause I see it on the youth level especially as, like a kid messes up, you know, and I'll, I'll walk up and just not not to come down on them, but to coach them and I'll say what happened and instead of going, coach, I messed up, coach, my feet were wrong, you know it's, it's excuse after excuse after excuse and I go. I don't want the excuses, I don't want the excuses of what happened. I just want you to tell me what went wrong and what happened in that moment so that we can coach from it. Right and and but, teaching kids to embrace failure, that it's okay, it's okay to fail, it's okay to mess up, like the pros mess up, they drop passes, they, you know, throw interceptions like they miss tackles. It's, the failure is going to be okay, but we can't shy away from it.
Speaker 1:I think that, especially on the youth level, and being on it is seeing that they get so hyper-fixated on winning that you do create that anxiety in kids. I couldn't agree more with you as far as to have the winning mindset for you and your team and your program. What are like key habits and routines that you encourage in your athletes?
Speaker 3:Well, I think showing up is number one. You know, I take a lot of pride in being on time for things and being prepared. There is, I have this rock is have. I just keep this on my desk and it's, it's a rock and it's got uh, it's got drip marks in it.
Speaker 3:If and we talk about the power of a drip a lot if a drip of water, if it's consistent and persistent, it will form a groove into a rock, um, give it enough time and we talk about being accountable to having great daily habits, it's a lot like that drip of water. You know, success is inevitable. It's just a matter of time. And so, if you're accountable to having great daily habits, um, you know you're going to show up on time, you're going to make a decision to give phenomenal effort, you're going to make a decision to have a positive attitude. If you can do those things, I think success is coming. And, um, it's just about showing up and and so for us, there are, there are days where you're not going to feel like getting out of bed, but getting past that and getting through that, I think, is yeah, tony dungy said champions don't do extraordinary things, they do ordinary things better than everyone else and I just that really resonates with me. I think that that's true. I think it's just um, saturdays in November are usually decided on Tuesdays in February. You know like we make sure that we have, uh, we understand the sense of urgency to get better every day and uh, and I think, if you can get into that routine, if it feels like a grind, maybe there's going to be times.
Speaker 3:Different seasons call for different things from you. The last thing I want to do is I will never take the field with a soft football team. So at some point you've got to get over that performance anxiety and you've got to get to the point where you can go okay, I'm ready for this, I'm prepared, I can do my job, I can get over. That guy just made a play on me, but I'm not gonna let it happen twice in a row. Learning from mistakes and not repeating them. I just think all that stuff is uh incredibly important, but it starts with just showing up on time and being yeah, oh, that's huge.
Speaker 1:That's huge. Um, what? What's some advice that you would maybe give a young coach or athlete that's just now starting their journey let's say coach. Specifically, what's a coach who's starting his journey, let's say on the professional level, for sake, what's some advice that you would give them?
Speaker 3:The best advice I ever received was treat every job like it's the last job you'll ever have and I think if you do that, you'll pay the time and attention to do things at a higher level. I took a lot of pride in doing simple things at a high level. There are no little things, they're just simple things. Yeah, you know, when you're a student assistant coach who's trying to get into coaching, when you're a graduate assistant coach who's trying to figure the whole thing out, you just got to show up and work and sometimes that meant sleeping at the office while I was trying to get the film to load after a game. Sometimes that meant sacrificing going on a vacation.
Speaker 3:It's really tough getting into it. And if you want to get into college coaching, you just got to be broke for a while. If you're willing to be broke and move, you'll be fine. All too often, uh, you know that's hard. It's not for everybody and not everybody has the opportunities there's. There are so many guys who would make phenomenal coaches if that's what they did for a living, but they just took a different route. Would make phenomenal coaches if that's what they did for a living, but they just took a different route.
Speaker 3:And you know the coaches that you meet in college coaching. They didn't get there because they're the smartest guys in the room. I mean, I can promise you that A lot of it is being at the right place in the right time, in God's providence. And you know a lot of our coaches on staff, like some of our position coaches, aren't full-time coaches. You know they have a full-time job and this is what they do because they're passionate about it. I got you To create an environment that is conducive to that as full-time staff. And then I don't think that we have to lay our families down at the altar of success. You know, I think that you can have success on the field and you can still be a good father and a good husband. I think it's important that we don't sacrifice our families, and I'm saying that being totally blessed by a wife who understands the commitment level and the time it takes to coach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, wow, that's big to coach. So, yeah, that's, wow, that's that's, that's big. Um final, final thing what is the legacy that you, as a coach, hope that you leave behind?
Speaker 3:on the field. Well, I turned 40 this year and nobody talks about legacy until you get over 40, that was a plan, I didn't know I didn't know that's, uh, that's something that you don't, you don't, you don't ever think about.
Speaker 3:And then you're like, oh man, my elbow hurts this morning. You know this could be like, this could be gone tomorrow or this might be the end, you know. You know nobody's guaranteed tomorrow, and uh. And so you do think about legacy more and um, yeah, but I don't know, I haven't, I couldn't probably adequately articulate um, what, what legacy looks like? I'll tell you this um, there have been a lot of guys who come through this football program that you don't see for years. Then you catch them at a wedding and it's just like you pick up, like you never left, and yeah, wow, and that's really the. The joy of this profession is seeing young men grow up and get older and get married and have kids. And I'm to the point where I'm starting to recruit the sons of some guys that I played with, and that'll make you feel pretty old, because you know how big of knuckleheads you were in college.
Speaker 3:And just to be able to be part of young men's lives as they try and navigate this whole move, crossing the bridge from adolescence to masculinity, it's a joy and a privilege, and it's one that I don't take lightly and I have a sense of urgency for. And so I think that if you talk about legacy, I think you talk about um, uh, I think you just you want them to remember that you cared about them and that you're happy to see that they're, they're having success, or, uh, that you're there for them. If they're not, and um, and that that doesn't change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, that's, that's good. That's good, that's good. I appreciate it. Well, thank you so much for your time and carving out some time for me to be able to share your story and all that. I greatly appreciate it. I think there's so much powerful insight, so much wisdom in everything that you shared and I personally thank you so much. Hopefully this will inspire a lot of people and hopefully encourage a lot of coaches.
Speaker 3:It's so weird. It's funny because, as a head coach, you get a lot of credit for a lot of things that other people do well, and so I just like, as you say all these things, I'm thinking, man, I need to name drop all these other people because, you know, a lot of people give me credit for things that other people do, and I'm surrounded by a lot of amazing, fun, talented people and it's a joy to go to work every day.
Speaker 1:Well, that's huge, I mean, you know, in and of itself too. I mean you know I'm 35, so I'm a little bit younger than you, but, like you know, I feel like in my thirties especially, like I've learned that, like those, those close relationships, that that brotherhood that you have around you, like those guys are, you know and and ironically for me, like a lot of the guys have just become, they are my. You know guys that I coach youth football with. You know guys that I coach youth football with, but you know they've become some of my best friends and lifelong friends honestly, and you know it's our. Our kids have been together since kindergarten and you know they're the guys that you know they would drop everything you know for me and vice versa.
Speaker 1:And you know those relationships are huge and they're important, but you know they. You know they create. You know who you are as a important, but you know they, you know that they create. You know who you are as a man. You know beyond just the football field. You know and and a lot of them are, you know, good Christian men.
Speaker 1:You know in my life that you know have huge, you know, influence on me and are, are huge encouragement. You know when I need it, because you know it's it's. You know you know I I serve as a director on our football board too, for youth level. You know, and it feels like a lot of times it's, you know, and I'm sure you feel this way with with being a head coach. You know there's times where it feels like you're you're pouring your cup every day. You know, and if you don't have those guys that are pouring back into you, you know it, it can feel, you know you can feel empty and depleted, and so it's, it's huge to have those, those people around that that help make you successful as you are, because you know it's it's that, it's that relationship that give and take, you know both ways. So it's, you know I, I, I, you know I'm, I'm thankful for the guys that I have, that that do that same thing for me.
Speaker 3:Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, coach, I greatly appreciate the time and thank you so much for hopping on here and, uh, and, and, and, I hope, uh. If there's anything with a headset app that I can do, please let me know. I'm more than more than happy to share and encourage people with that. But, uh, but, but. Again, thank you so much for your, for your wisdom and your time. I appreciate it. Thanks, chris. Thanks for having me. Welcome back, buddy. How was Disney World?
Speaker 2:Disney was good Wearing out those season passes we bought about a year ago. We got a couple months left, so kids were on spring break and we're gonna do it. So promise, I am not a co-host, ghost, like I am on a lot of social media platforms. I, I will, I'm in, I, I'm in on this. So, um, that'd be the last interview I miss. I, I promise that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's all good man, family time is way more important than a podcast episode, so I'm glad you guys had a good time. So what did you think of the interview with Coach Dabraco?
Speaker 2:I had four main takeaways. First one was just coaching is a family matter. The first thing that I really liked on that is the quote that he said. He says you don't have to lay your families down at the altar of success and a lot of coaches talk about that, they preach that, but they don't live that. And to listen to him talk about his relationship with his wife and how his family plays a role in his coaching aspect was, it was very it was refreshing, because a lot of coaches say that they don't live it and you could really tell through the interview that he he lives that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:And and I think I think that that's something that that can translate outside of of of just the sports world, right, I think, outside of of just the sports world, right, I think, uh, that's that's a tongue twister for me, and like sports world that I struggle with that one, um, but uh, but we can translate that outside right, because I mean, I know, for me personal story, like you know, changed over careers, um, got into the sales world, gosh, probably five, probably five, eight years ago now, right and just, I remember being at home but constantly on my phone, answering phone calls, text messages, emails, and like not being present with my family.
Speaker 1:I physically was sitting at the table, but it was like the phone was sucking me away from, from that quality time. So I think that that's huge and you know, I know us as, as as fathers and husbands, you know, we, we, we put on that role of like being the main provider and that's our job to take care of our families. And I think that sometimes we forget it's important to make sure that the family is not the one that's paying the sacrifice of your success, you know, and making sure that presence and quality that you know you can provide them by being there. Being for them is super important and I totally agree with you, man. That was such an encouragement to hear as a father and as a husband for him to say that and share that story.
Speaker 2:One of the big things on the family part is a lot of coaching. College coaching comes in the recruiting side of things and these kids operate on a backward schedule. They're in class and at practice when coaches are working and then they're free when coaches are at home with their families. So a lot of times like I would have to schedule calls with players like hey, I'm free at this time or that time, I'm sure they do the same thing, just being cognizant of the time that that we do have with our kids that we can't get back. So you know there's a lot of juggling that the average Joe or person doesn't really understand happens.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure, yeah, no, that makes sense. You know I don't envy the logistics of having to figure that out. You know I'm sure it is a very big hassle. So what's key takeaway number two for you.
Speaker 2:So key takeaway number two is you celebrate what you tolerate. And for me, a quote that I've used and heard is you promote what you permit, which means the disciplinary things, the bad behavior, the laziness, the dishonesty, like when you, when those things go unrecognized, you're actually promoting them or, in his case, celebrating them. So you know, especially a lot of this generation, there's a lot of things that we kind of just dismiss because that's you know who they are, that's a generation we live in, that's those are things that society says are okay, but you're actually promoting those things that continue to happen. And you know, I've kind of liked the celebrate what you tolerate more, because you really are celebrating things that should probably not be celebrated by by not addressing them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's huge. That's huge, especially, as you said, this generation is definitely. I mean, I think we can agree, you know, it's the generation athletes that we're seeing now are just, it's a different breed than what what we saw. You know, I guess, let's say our age right, compared comparison sake, like when we played. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:It seems like, it seems like there's not, as you know, these kids go into, like there's not as much consequence to their actions. You know now, and so I think that they, you know, they go into, you know, I guess, just say they come out of mom and dad's house and into the real world and they still carry that mindset, you know, and it's, it's, it's not always that way. So you know, I think that being the type, you know, the type generation that we're seeing in the college level, is different. I mean, heck, you like picking on Georgia, let's pick on Georgia for a minute. I mean, look at, look at the the number of traffic tickets and arrest and reckless driving and drunk driving and all that that's happening. I mean that's a direct correlation to exactly what we're talking about these kids, there's not enough consequences to their action at home and that translates out of that. So you know it's important.
Speaker 2:Obviously, I know him being in an AI school.
Speaker 1:Yeah go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're good, go ahead right yeah, no, and on the flip side of things, like the recent news with nico iamaliava at tennessee, like they weren't putting up with that, they just let him go and you know that's something that they weren't gonna promote or celebrate. And you know now that kid's kind of up a creek now and he's gonna have to figure something out. But, um, no, those are, those are two. I wouldn't say they're two opposites. But you know, I don't think george is, by no means do. I think kirby smart, is like celebrating that or promoting that, like there's disciplinary actions that need to be taken, but you know, there's just different to the public eye that then what goes on? So, um, I think that stuff happens more often than than we.
Speaker 1:Then we think right, right, well, clark. Well, clark County PD, they're tough to deal with. Anyway, I've gotten a few parking tickets myself. Yeah, I've gotten a few parking tickets from them, so they don't play around, let's go. Key takeaway number three what was that for you?
Speaker 2:One of the biggest things and it kind of leads back to it's not a family matter, but just having trust in your other coaches. I know he mentioned um. I think he said he gave up the offensive side of things to go back to the defensive side and you know, just having trust in your other coaches there's a lot of autonomy in that. That comes with that, some ownership that you give your coaching staff and your coordinators on the football side of things. Um, it speaks a lot to the, the synergy and the alignment that they have as a coaching staff.
Speaker 2:Um, it speaks to the, to the loyalty that those assistant coaches have to coach dabber co. You know, and then you know I think alumni play a big role in that because those kids were given an opportunity by Concordia University in Nebraska and they're back coaching and you know, when you've played in a program you have a different ownership than you know when you didn't play in. So that was a big thing for me as an assistant coach. You, you want to be trusted and you want to have some autonomy to kind of, you know, leave your own personal mark on a program and, to be honest with you, it's hard to do that as a head coach, I know with some of the head coaches that I've worked with in the past like there's a lot of things that are hard to give up, but you have to give them up for the growth of your assistant coaches and the growth of your team.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I totally agree. I think that one was huge and I think your success is all about the people that you put around you and build around you. So having trust in them and trusting each other, I think that goes hand in hand with success, no doubt, yeah.
Speaker 2:What's key takeaway number four for you? Number four was the drip rock. I really like the drip rock, I mean. I think a lot of times we hear like consistency wins, good habits win. But the fact that he reached over and grabbed that rock off his desk and showed the two drip marks on it just shows that over time, if you're plugging away at the right things, you're ultimately going to win. And I think in my head I was trying to picture how he was communicating that to his team. And it's like each drop is a small victory. Every, every player making weights, every player being perfectly dressed at weights or nobody missing class, like those are the little things over time that leave a big impact on something so big, you know. So those small wins compounded over time are leave a big impact on something so big, you know. So those small wins compounded over time are turned into big wins and I think a lot of coaches preach that. But I really liked the analogy of that drip rock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I actually wrote that down as one of the things I wanted to talk about too is is is the quote he says success is inevitable, it's just a matter of time. But you know, he said, you know all that, all that happens because of great daily habits just showing up. Right, that's the first step to success just showing up daily.
Speaker 2:Success is going to happen.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's right it finally did, finally did, and then, and phenomenal, finally did, and then a phenomenal, phenomenal effort. You know I love that because I think, you know, I think what we see a lot of now is I like to call it the microwave generation, where, you know, a lot of times you see kids get frustrated when they don't see success immediately. You know, it's like. I mean, I have this conversation with harlow, you know, as a 10 year old it's, it's like.
Speaker 1:You know he doesn't understand the concept of like why is so important to go out and hit 100 balls a day off a tee, you know, and it seems excessive and it seems redundant to him. But you know what I tell him all the time is like you're teaching, you're teaching muscle memory to your body, you're teaching. You know it's that work and it seems like you know you think, oh, I'm gonna go out there and do it one day, boom, I'm good to go for the next tournament. But he doesn't understand that, that that continuous grind and that, that that constant work and keeping yourself in motion in that, and you know it's it's that I see that a lot with with athletes is it's like the the minute they don't see success when they just started the journey two days ago, boom they give up.
Speaker 1:They quit, they're frustrated. I saw something on Twitter about that today that you posted something very similar along those lines. You want to share that. I know I'm throwing that out of nowhere on you, but you were talking a little bit about development and things like that all right your post.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think development's the biggest buzzword out there. Oh my gosh, I just think it's used in the wrong context, because obviously development is what people want to hear, because it's one of the biggest catchphrases out there. And for me, like what? What is the measure of success for that? Like, for me there's no clear and I'm speaking generally, like when people say development there's like, there's no clear metrics. Like programs are preaching it but they don't define or track it. So like I'm developing this kid, but how do I know it worked? You know, the other thing is like there's a lot of lack of individualization, because when you're in a team setting, whether it be college or football, there's not a whole lot of one-on-one time in those settings. So a lot of times you fall into that cookie cutter of training. The third thing I think about development there's just overuse of the word. It's just a trendy catchphrase. I think it's the dumbest thing. Look, I'm guilty of using it too, because every kid wants to hear it. So you say that. But, like you know, I look back now on my recruiting show and it's like, yeah, we develop kids, but like it's it's measured differently in our program. Like, like it's measured differently in our program. Like development is different from program to program.
Speaker 2:The fourth thing like this is the biggest one for me it's like there's no accountability in the word development. So if a player doesn't improve, nobody checks whether the system worked or not. Like, oh, we told him he would develop, he didn't develop, well, it's the player's fault. Like no, you're the one who sold the development system to him, it's your fault that it played. But you know, said kid leaves, said kid says oh, it was the coach just said they would develop me and they different. So it becomes a blame game at that. So and then the last thing I put like there's just no long-term plan. Like development in the sense of it is. It's not a one month, two month, three month thing. We're talking two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, a year in advance. Like everything is short-term drills, practices labeled as development.
Speaker 2:Like no, none of that stuff is actually development in my mind that that could be right or wrong, but I just think development is the word that parents want to hear and exposure is what parents want to hear. But how are we defining that? How are we? How are we tracking that? You know?
Speaker 1:for the players. So, yeah, I mean that was, yeah, I, I think, I mean, I I think, as far as I can speak on the youth level, with development, right Like that's, development of the youth level is just continuous exposure, continual reps, right Like at the youth level, like you said, you've got kids that are going to progress at different levels, right, and the thing is is it's just giving those kids opportunity, you know, giving those kids a chance to go out there and grow, you know, and that's really what you know for the youth level.
Speaker 1:that's what it should be. Growth, you know, and growth is going to be measured differently for every single kid. You know what I mean Exactly, exactly. But you know it can't be one size fits all with growth and development in terms of what you're speaking for for a kid, because you may have a kid that's been playing for six years and what his growth and development path looks like is going to be completely different than the kid who's never played football before we're trying to develop him into understanding the game of football and that's it.
Speaker 1:That's basic. And if he can get down those basic principles this season, boom. We've hit measures, but I think I, I love that. I think I think development, I'm gonna I'm gonna use a business term here for a minute and I think, with development and, like you said, accountability, it's important to have key performance indicators, right like we call and like I call that kpi and sales world, and right like it's. Okay, here's what I want. This is, this is where you are, this is where I want you to be by the end of the season or by the end of a set period of time. Okay, here's these kpis that we're going to set in place for you and that's how we're holding you accountable. That's how we're holding ourselves as coaches accountable to how you're developing. Right, or you know what I mean? Or baseball, or you know what's your batting average right now. What are we trying to get it to? To make you more of a consistent hitter? Okay, that's okay. Now we've that's a measure of a kpi.
Speaker 1:Right, right now, you're about you know 125, and we want you to hit be hitting 285, you know, in six months, you know, and that's, that's, that's the way. I think that that's what's important. I I totally agree with you on that as far as there not being enough accountability, if you think about, I mean, every kid.
Speaker 2:We start at the bottom of the staircase and we want to be at the top, but we don't know how many steps are in between, like for harlow. Every one of those swings that he's taken is a trip in the rock. It's a step up the staircase. Every ground ball he takes is a step up the staircase. Every ground ball he takes is a step up the staircase. So there's just no easy way from point A to point B and you know, a lot of times I feel like we think it's a little bit more simple and a little more short-term than it really is 100%.
Speaker 1:I totally agree with that and that's the biggest thing that I see with kids. You know it's like oh, coach, I did 100 push-ups, I'm the strongest person on the team. No, you're not like you know. You, you got to realize you got to do 100 push-ups for 100 days. Then maybe you are, but it's, it's that, it's like you, you see it all the time. It's such a such a passive, passive motion that you see in athletics now where it's like, well, I did it one time, I did it two times, I did it for a month and I didn't see, I didn't see any, any different results. So I'm done with that, I'm moving on. That didn't work for me, you know, and so it's like it's teaching people. Like you said that I, that's, that's a great point. I love the staircase, like that's, that's huge, um, but one thing that I, I like that he said to um and it kind and it kind of circles back to the conversation you and I had in the episode where we talked about our coaching.
Speaker 1:I asked him about legacy. You and I, we're the same age, right? You're 35, right? I think we talked about this one time. Yeah, 35? Yeah, so same age. We're nearing 40. I think he's a little bit older than us, you know. I think he's he's 40 or just turned 40, something like that. But you know, I asked him about legacy and uh, and I meant in it and it slipped and I meant to ask him about, like, what his legacy was at home, you know. But I think he clearly defined that with what he was talking about, how important his home life was.
Speaker 1:And I, and I think that in and of itself speaks about legacy for him. But, um, but I asked him about legacy in the on the field, like what was his legacy going to be? And and and you know he talked stories about how he goes to weddings of guys that he's coached and guys that he's played with and runs into people and they run up to him, it's like you know, and they reconnect so quick. But but I I loved him saying that about the legacy thing that he just wants peter to remember that he cared about him and cared for him and I was like man, that's I.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that thought in that heart of a coach to to say that, like you can, you can think of all the terrible things that I you know, that I did or said or decisions I made are good and bad, but, like you know, to remember that I cared about you, I was good and bad but, like you know, it was a remember that I cared about you. I was like dude, that's, that's huge, you know, and that's that's important. And I think I mean I'm sure, I mean I, we, I think we both expressed that, you know, in our episode, saying that that we wanted our kids and athletes that we coach to feel the same way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it. I mean it goes, it just hammers home the fact that they don't know how, they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. It just hammers the fact. It just hammers at home, like, yeah, we're not going to be remembered for what we taught them.
Speaker 2:We're not going to remember for, you know, the wins and losses. We're going to remember for the relationships, the hugs, all those kinds of things. So I thought that was good. I also thought it was funny. I think he made a joke about you can't leave a legacy until you're like over 40 years old, which made me like, all right, I got five more years to like work on leaving my legacy, so that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought that was that was good so how how, what else you, what else you? Got yeah, I uh, I was gonna say just as a joke, since we're talking about jokes, I was gonna say how about the? Uh, the tornado siren in the uh?
Speaker 2:in the interview.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and he'd hear it, but I was like I could hear it, but I wasn't sure what it was yeah, he just wasn't even remotely concerned and I was thinking like surely at some point you're gonna look concerned, or be worried about the fact that we're about to be swept down in the middle of Twister right, right, but he just was whatever about it like a multi-million dollar project on the field or something like.
Speaker 2:Something cool is going on. I don't know. It's just another Twister or tornado or whatever.
Speaker 1:Just tornado, it's a couple blocks down or gain, or tornado or whatever. Yeah, just tornado. It's a couple blocks down the road, I'm not worried about it. Wait, I'll wait till you know, till the trees in the front yard are blowing sideways right, right, yeah. Well, we're gonna practice field goals kicking into the wind.
Speaker 2:So we'll uh make sure we can, we can nail him.
Speaker 1:Another thing for me, man I loved, you know, I love how bold he is about his faith. Man I you know, was just very you know. He said, like Jesus Christ, you know, changed my life. You know everything I do, you know matters you know about.
Speaker 1:You know Christ is involved in everything that I do as a father, as a coach, in the way that I coach, in the way that I talk to players. You know matters, you know it's about. You know christ is involved in everything that I do as a father, as a coach, in the way that I coach, in the way that I talk to players. You know just the, everything that he said you could just tell in his demeanor and his tone and everything he talked about how, how, how crucial his, his faith is and and everything about that. He that he is as a coach and as a father. And I, I, I, I absolutely love that man. I, I, I was, I was blown away, you know, and and super encouraged again by that just him sharing how important his faith was to him and and how he used that in his day to day routine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when you become aian and you lead with your faith out front, you live your life and you talk a different way like you. It's it's evitable. It's noticeable evitable is the wrong word there. It's noticeable when you're a believer and the way you're living your life, just just by how you carry yourself, how, how you speak, how you talk to your players and so on and so forth, and those things they shape who you are. And when you've changed who you are, it changes how you operate, how you do things, how you view things. And when you stop viewing these players as avenues for wins and losses and you're viewing them as souls that need saving, you're going to impact more lives and you're going to have more wins in heaven than you will on the football field or the baseball field or whatever field that you end up playing on. So those things are cool. And being in the NAI which shout out to my NAI guy, coach D'Averco, love NAI. Baby Spent 10 years coaching NAI baseball.
Speaker 2:But what a lot of people don't understand about a lot of Division IIs, division IIIs, nais a lot of those programs are they have a religious affiliation and there are special people coaching them, and that's one thing that I could tell through the interview with coach Dabraco is like he's a special person and you know, obviously we, we look at the Kirby smarts and the, the Billy May beers and the uh, you know, the Nick Saban's of the world that do it at the highest level. But those are special humans and there's special humans at every level coaching, and you can see why those people are, are in places of leadership and it's, it's, there's, there's no wonder that dude's been at at at Concordia university for gosh, what was it? It's close to 20 something years now between player and coach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe not, but he played coach and it's not like I mean, no wonder, why wouldn't you want someone like that leading your program? So I think that those are big things that people that may overlook Like I'm at a smaller level, but like you, don't understand the type of people that are leading those programs those are unbelievable people and human beings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, most definitely, most definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, most definitely, most definitely. Um. One other thing I really like that he said is the tony dungy quote about you know the. The champions don't do extra extraordinary, extraordinary things, they do ordinary things better, like and, and he and he talked about that. As far as he said you know was talking about you know saturdays in november aren't. You know was talking about. You know Saturdays in November aren't decided. You know are decided in February. You know in the weight room in February.
Speaker 1:And I was like man, that's, yeah, that's, that's a really good way, excellent way to look at that. As far as you know, the way that you're coaching, the way that you know the way that the program is running and and getting your athletes to think that way way, you know, is is such, a, such a I mean look at, look at the season that he had had the best season in in in his coaching history, had, you know, the the best season that they've had as a program and you know almost 20 something years. You know, I mean, that's, that's phenomenal and it's that, it's that mindset that he's coaching and and and pushing those athletes to understand that you know, that's, that's the byproduct of that right, is the success that he's seeing.
Speaker 2:So I really liked that, you know, liked him sharing, and by players I mean this generation, understanding that it's about the long term. Kids live. The kids these days live in today and tomorrow. They're not thinking about two days from now, two weeks from now, two years from now, like that concept is a harder concept to drive home than a lot of people think because of the generation.
Speaker 2:And you know the things that we deal with in society, with social media, like nobody's focused on a year from now, which is goes back to why development's so hard. It's like I want everything now and it's so hard to achieve those things. So, you know, I think the best coaches are the ones that use that drip rock effect and they keep hammering home day in and day out, like small wins, now, tuesdays in February, you know, in baseball it's, you know, wednesdays in October, whatever it is to to drive that home. But the coaches that figure out how to get the players to understand that it's about the off season, that wins games in season, are the ones that are probably that are most, that are most successful in the long run yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Man, there was one more thing I wanted to share and I I it just slipped my mind. I'm circling my notes making sure I covered everything. Um, oh, bummer, I'll think about it and I'll have to post about it. Oh, oh, no, I know what it was. It was right on that. Sorry everybody for that little uh brain lapse. I had there. Um to that note, you know, and and and it came from nick saban, but you know that obviously, kirby smart carries that same principle just do simple better, right, like, yeah, just to teach that concept. Just do simple better. You know what I mean like and teaching. Again, I think it falls in line with with that exact same thing where it's like if you're, if you're winning at the small things, it makes, it makes the next thing even easier to accomplish. And and it's uh, that's.
Speaker 1:I actually highly recommend a book. Um, it's called make your bed. It's I forget the gentleman's name, actually I'm gonna look it up while I'm talking about it. Um, but it's called Make your Bed. It's about a. It's a guy who talks about if you want to change the world, these are small steps to do. It's Admiral William H McRaven that he talks about. It's just, it's just little things to do. But but the very first thing he talks about is like if you, if you want to change the world today, make your bed, do you? You've accomplished one thing before you walked out of your bedroom. Right, and it's just. Each thing compounds the success of the next thing, compounds, compounds, compounds, and yeah, it's a, it's I I again clarify, I didn't read the book, audio book all day long, but but it's, it's a great, great audio book. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:It's a very short listen yeah, highly encourage that one. And then, uh, to another flip of an audio book. He talked about the anxious generation. Um, talking about, like the, the effect that technology is having on on today's generation, and it kind of goes in line with what we were talking about earlier. Um, I started listening to the book after he and I did the interview and dude it is. It's so true, so, so, so real, so real about you know, you see it. You know, and from a different perspective, as far as, like, what technology is doing to teenagers and what social media is doing to, you know, to everybody, and the effect it's having and it's, you know, it's, it's as a father, it's terrifying. I'm like my daughter will never have social media. You know, as far as, as far as I'm concerned, because, because of the the negative side effects that come with it.
Speaker 1:But, um, those are two. You know, if I could just two audiobook recommendations while we're talking, both of them are great reads, especially if you have kids. But it's it's made me realize like I pick up my phone just out of out of just bad, like just to occupy space and time, and I've realized I'm doing that and I'll like pick it up and I'm like, no, put it down, I have no need for it, right?
Speaker 2:now.
Speaker 2:So, it's definitely a good perspective as far as that goes Just to kind of hammer home that first one of the day. That's something I've been working on. I'm going to preface this with I will never make the bed because I will never put the pillows on our bed correctly. So my first one of the day is beating the alarm clock, and this is something that I've talked about on Twitter a lot. Notoriously, I'm bad at hitting the snooze button, so over the past couple of weeks I've been setting the alarm for 5.01. And I'm turning the alarm off and I'm getting out of bed, and to me that's the first one, because I ain't making the bed.
Speaker 1:That's just who I am.
Speaker 2:So for me, my parallel making the bed is beating the alarm clock. So my first win of the day becomes beating that alarm clock, because we all hit that snooze button three or four times. Beating that alarm clock because we all hit that snooze button three, four times. There's been times where I hit that snooze button from 7 o'clock to 8 o'clock because I know I got time. So I just think, finding ways, like you said, to have small victories and I've noticed over the last couple weeks in quote-unquote, beating the alarm clock, the rest of my day has changed. I'm more productive, I've got things more in in line. So, um, I think it's just finding those wins early in the day. Um kind of go a long way with your daily routines and being successful and things like that.
Speaker 2:So huge how do you feel about this?
Speaker 1:I was like no way how do you, how do you feel about breakfast food? I know you attacked a lot of cereal brands yesterday on Twitter.
Speaker 2:I did. I could get into breakfast, but it is not the most important meal of the day. There's a reason. A lot of people are successful with intermittent fasting. So yeah, if you want my opinion on that, just follow me on Twitter, Debate me. I'm a breakfast person, so I could be partial to that. So it is what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me either. My breakfast is two cups of coffee, and then I'm good for the day. So I'm the same way man, I could go without breakfast for sure, so I think that's pretty much everything. I wanted to make sure that we covered. Do you have anything else you want to make sure we share?
Speaker 2:no, I think we covered a lot. I think there was a lot that we dove into, a lot of things that we unpacked, so I thought that was a great little session with Coach Dabroco. So, coach, thanks for your insight and your input and your winning mindset and your program at Concordia University in.
Speaker 1:Nebraska. Yeah, I low-key hope I get one of those hats that he had.
Speaker 2:I said it enough times that maybe he'll send me one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thank for recording this. He asked if he could borrow the film for uh, for some recruiting stuff. So I told him uh, I told him only if I got a hat. So I'm checking my mail. I haven't gotten it yet but maybe it's maybe still on the way. Hopefully the tornado didn't grab it so well, cool deal. Well, we just want to thank everybody so much for for tuning in and listening to our episode and uh, and we will, uh, we'll be back with you guys in two weeks. Bye.
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