Ep. 5 | Mr. Mach

On this episode of Quiet in the Halls, we welcome Mr. Mike Mach, a teacher and football coach at Catholic Central. 

A two-time state champion defensive back at CC ('01, '02) and a two-sport Shamrock who also earned letters in track & field, Coach Mach graduated from DCC in 2003 before earning his B.A. in History and Secondary Education from Michigan State University in 2008. 

Mach has been a teacher in the Catholic Central building since 2009 and is on pace to complete his MBA from Louisiana Tech University in Summer 2026. A Shamrock through and through, Coach Mach's passion for CC football, player development, and the brotherhood of the program continues to drive everything he does. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

All right, welcome back to Quine the Halls episode five. In the last episode, I talked to Miles Amin, who is an ex-San Marino Olympic medalist. Uh it was a very good conversation, talked a lot about his entrepreneurial skills. So if you haven't already, please listen to it. But today I have a new guest, Mr. Mac. Some call him Coach Mac, depending on how you know him. He is an econ teacher and a football coach here at CC. So please welcome Mr. Mac.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hey, thanks for having me. It's a tremendous honor. And uh I didn't know that was your last guest. That's a big shoes to fill there. So, but uh we'll try our best here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

No, of course. Um, so obviously, you just came off a win off of CC state championship, great win. Love the atmosphere, CC. Uh fans uh here went crazy. For you, what was it like? That's just probably the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Um it was a tremendous honor and kind of like a perfect culmination of really not just one year, but like a two-year journey for this particular group. Um, but then also just I've been a part of Catholic Central football my whole life. So, you know, I won. I was I was very fortunate to be a part of you know, two state championship teams as a player. And then when I moved into my um coaching career, you know, this was definitely something I always wanted to experience. And so to be able to uh accomplish that goal and and do it with such a tremendous group of guys, um, you really couldn't have asked for more. And you know, sounds like you were there. Uh, and for all those who were there, um, they know exactly what you were describing. You know, it was really a perfect environment just for the whole community of Catholic Central. Um, obviously, you know, we're very proud of our team and everything that they accomplished, you know, but just seeing the students, the alumni, you know, and the whole community, you know, we get this opportunity, you know, to put the best face forward of Catholic Central and everything we have to offer. And everybody gets to see it. So, you know, my level of pride was you know through the roof in terms of you know getting to show the state and really the country. I mean, if you look at how we're marketed now, you know, some of the great work from our media team and students as well, and sort of sharing what's going on here at Catholic Central, you know, we we get seen from coast to coast, right? And so people got to see what I thought was one of the best things we have to offer, which is our community and the pride and the spirit. So what a tremendous experience. Um I just feel so blessed uh to have been a part of that.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yeah, that's great. You put your mic just a little bit closer, please. Yeah. Thank you. Um, no, that's great. For coaching football, what uh what type of coach are you? Are you offensive, defensive?

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Uh great question. I I wear a lot of different hats. My main uh role is I am coached to the offense. Okay. Um, I'm the run game coordinator. Uh, I work in conjunction with our our main offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Cody Patton, um, who is a phenomenal coach and uh what a great addition to Catholic Central. Um and then also uh I'm the special teams coordinator, so all of our kicking game units, um, but you know, just like what you see on the field with the guys, you know, coaches, nobody does it alone. Uh I get to work with some tremendous guys, so in both those roles. So um, but those are kind of my main, my main avenues. Um, on a daily basis in practice, I work with the tight ends, I work with the HBACs, um, got to coach some tremendous guys there too. So um, that's kind of what I've been doing the last couple of years. I've been coaching for 20 years. Wow. So I've done a lot of different things. I've done offense, I've done defense, um, coached at freshman, coached JV. Now I've run varsity since 2012. So um, and it's been a very fulfilling experience. You know, you love working with young people, um, and no better place to do it than here.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Of course. How did you originally get into football? Did you play it? Did you just turn on the TV and just like it? Just like me. I was like, probably won't play it, but love watching it. How did you get in football?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Well, those of who are been around the Catholic Central community uh for an extended period of time, they know you know, my my father is the famous coach Tom Mack. So pretty much from the time I was born, you know, football was a part of my life. Um, you know, and we were never pressured, you know, to get into the sport. We just kind of fell in love with it naturally. So, you know, I started playing and you know, I kind of knew I loved doing it. And, you know, you come to a certain point that in your life where you realize this isn't probably gonna be what you're gonna do as a profession. You know, 1% of 1% is gonna people are gonna, you know, be a pro football player. So um, and then when I went to college, I actually went to be a journalist. I think most people don't know that about me. I thought I wanted to, you know, be on ESPN and be like a sports broadcaster. Um, but what I figured out is I like talking sports. Um, I didn't necessarily like journalism and media, which is um quite an interesting field these days. So um I think stuff like this is podcasting is making it, you know, bringing it back and making it so much better. Um, you know, so I'm grateful for that. Um and then probably probably about my sophomore year of college, I kind of felt like something was missing. And at that point I made the determination that you know I needed to find my way back to the sport, not necessarily because, you know, of it of the game part of it, but it just gives you so much more, right? Gives you community and gives you foundation and structure, um, gives you purpose, you know. Um very fulfilling, you know. I watched my dad's career and um things that got me. I mean, obviously, when you're a kid, you love watching the games and the wins and the championships and all that kind of stuff. But um, when I was in high school, I used to get all these people would come up to me and my brother, and they would tell stories about the impact that my dad had on them. And that was something that always stuck with me that this was a profession that you can really help people. And um, so like I tell my students today, um, here and now, I tell them all the time, there's not a day that I wake up where I don't feel like I have purpose. Um, and so uh the game of football is just kind of like the vehicle for that. So um, so yeah, when I was in in college, I was still going to Michigan State and I was 21 years old. I made a determination that I wanted to get into coaching. Um, so I asked for the opportunity to do that. So I was traveling back and forth from East Lansing as I finished up my studies there. And um, and then when I was done there, I was able to eventually get hired here at Catholic Central. Started in fall 2009. Um, so I've been coaching since 2006. Um, so it's been uh uh quite a ride, a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

For you said you wanted to do journal journalism. Yeah. What was the path now from journalism to econ? Like how'd you become an econ teacher from that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Um I wish there was some uh you know, magic moment or story. Um, you know, but really it it goes back to probably my family and my household. Maybe not necessarily economics itself, okay, but business education, finance education. You know, that was you know, probably maybe an unknown side of um what went on in the Mac household when I was young was um something my dad was always into was um investing in the world of finance. And um, I think a little bit had to do with you know, providing for our family. You know, my mom was a stay-at-home mom and working at Catholic Central, not to pull the curtain back too much, but um being a Catholic school teacher back in those times was not the most lucrative profession. You know, it was it was a vocation as it still is now. Um, but we were very working class, middle class. And so, you know, my dad, his determination was to educate himself in personal finance and investing to make sure he could take care of his family. And it was something he always shared with us. I remember, you know, I was not 10 years old, I could have been five, six, eight years old, and him sitting in the front room in the morning with his cup of coffee, reading the newspaper, and he would teach us how to read the stock page. And this was before the internet, right? So um, you know, just those little memories, and then you know, he was always reading books um about personal finance and um you know, educating himself on how to create wealth. Um, and so that was just something that kind of permeated over to me. And so when I got to college and I was kind of trying to find my path, you know, that was something that had been ingrained in me, and I thought I'd give it a try. So, um, and I found out I didn't just like it, I loved it. It it helped explain the way the world works and um and just the opportunity, you know, I know how much all that stuff has helped me uh provide a foundation and for my family. Um and the opportunity to pass that on and pay it forward to you know young people now is it's very fulfilling. So um it was just kind of a calling in that regard. You know, some of it's the content, but some of it's also the um, you know, the opportunity to help other people as well. You know, it's it's um you know, personal finance and education can open a rot a lot of doors for you in terms of, you know, they talk about the American dream. Of course. You know, to me that's uh you know, that's really what it's all about.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Well, you said that you became a football coach in 2006. Were you also teaching economics during that time? Right now, that was before you went to Catholic Central, correct?

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yeah, so I was still a student at Michigan State. I was studying economics. Um, I graduated in spring of 2008. Okay. Had to do a year of student teaching. I was at Southfield High School for that. Um that was that was uh very interesting and really fulfilling. Um I met some really great people over there. It wasn't anything like what I thought it was gonna be. I was very intimidated at first. You know, it was my first working experience. I was a student, teacher, not getting paid, but it was very uh intimidating at first. And by the end, it was, you know, I didn't want to leave. It was it was a great environment. I worked with some really great people. Um and then in fall 2009 is when I got hired here. Um and you know, I when I got hired, uh, economics here was not a um mandatory course. It wasn't required. And so my second year is when the state of Michigan implemented its uh new requirement that every student had to take uh a semester of econ. So um that was one of the tasks I was given when I was hired was to you know take the elective courses that we had had previously, which you know, we offered microeconomics in one semester and macroeconomics in the other semester, and take those two and kind of um guide an evolution of that into what we do now. So um that's been 17 years in in the progress, and you know, there's definitely some things that I'm glad that we do differently now. So um, but you know, I I hope it's a uh meaningful experience and we're always trying to get better.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Do you think teaching football and teaching in the school has helped you become a better teacher overall?

SPEAKER_00 11:48

I mean, without a doubt, right? So I remember I'm gonna share a story that's not necessarily mine. Okay, but uh I did one year through the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association, I did a um leadership development program. And uh it was part, you know, leadership development and also networking. And uh guy who was my uh mentor, uh, he told me his story of getting into teaching and coaching. And I remember you know, he wasn't a teacher by trade at first, he was coaching first just like I was. And he told me about his first day as a teacher, he came home and to his wife, and he was so excited. And he said, you know, uh, teaching is just like coaching. And um, I would share the same sentiment here, right? That you know, while you're in a different arena and maybe it requires different strategies and different tact, you know, then you can use on the on the field, you know, you can be a little more aggressive and um verbal and you know, things like that. But um at the end of the day, you're developing people. So um they do they definitely inform one another without a doubt. And um I actually think being a teacher enhances your ability to be a great coach and vice versa, right? Just you know, having those daily interactions and seeing who it is that you're coaching, what they're like in everyday life, you're not just seeing them on the practice field, you're not just seeing them in helmet and shoulder pads, right? Um it makes it all, I think, way more meaningful. Um just the whole process of it all. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Yeah. That's wonderful. Do you think that um for your faith life, is it typically when you won the state championship and you said your pride was at an excessive level, and that's a great thing, but do you ever think that um like how do you limit like the pride aspect in your faith life?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So it's kind of funny you say that, because you know, something that I find myself thinking about a lot as a coach is that for all of us, coaches, players, everyone who experiences success, sometimes dealing with success is harder than dealing with failure. You know, when you uh go through some kind of hardship, you know, whether it's losing a game, you know, something like that, you know, your path back to redemption is very clear, right? You know, you can go back and look and see what you did wrong and you know, make those corrections. And, you know, then it's just a matter of, you know, how hard are you willing to work and are you willing to put the time in and correct it. Dealing with success is a lot more challenging, right? And it's it feels good, you know, to have people tell you great job and pat you on the back and you know, it makes you feel like you've arrived. And in a lot of the cases you haven't. And especially when you're you know dealing with younger people, but even if you're talking about someone like me who is older, right? Yeah, um, we're all susceptible to falling, kind of falling into that trap. Um, and that is where your faith can be very powerful in in reminding you, you know, to be humble. And you know, something kind of big picture that I always kind of try to remind myself is through my whole life, um, God has kind of always had a better plan for me than I had for myself. So think about my life course and my life trajectory and how many things I have to be thankful for. Um, not to get too long-winded into this, but I gotta tell a little bit about myself in order to take as much time to make sense. You know, like I was an adopted child, right? So at six months old, I was adopted by my family. Um, and you know, that was kind of like a turning point where I think, you know, I could have ended up anywhere in the world, you know, but this was his plan for me to be here with these people and live this life. And it's a beautiful life, and I'm you know so grateful for it. Um, so kind of reminding myself that you know this isn't just me or even the people around me. There's something greater at work. Um it keeps you very grounded. And you know, then I think about you know, going to college, and you know, I picked a different path, and then God brought me back, right, to this place, and he knew you know, it was kind of interesting. We had mass today, and Father Fulton brought up that quote that he's used a number of different times, right? That you know, you were made for Catholic Central and Catholic Central was made for you. I'm paraphrasing, I can't say it as good as he does, but um I think the spirit of that is is right on target, uh you know, in terms of you know, his plan is always kind of better, you know. And through my whole life, I felt like the sport of football has been a vehicle to bring my family closer. Uh, you know, it's just been a shared experience. Like I still remember this is kind of a cheesy story, but I still remember as a player, like winning the state championship. And I for the first time, and I remember the hug that my mom gave me after the game. And like it was just so genuine and so pure, like we had all kind of done that journey together, you know. And I think that was something that he stuck in my head on purpose, you know, as a reminder of, you know, this is all of us all the time. And um, so I think your faith is a really powerful vehicle, you know, for humility and and keeping you on track, you know, and that's um you know, that's very valuable, right? Because at the end of the day, we're all very human sometimes, and you know, we can have excessive pride and you know, especially after such a great accomplishment that you know takes a lot of work, and you know, I think everybody should be really proud of it, right? But you know, there's a middle ground and a balance that you can strike and you know be proud without being you know overdoing it or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Of course. I can share the same mindset. I'm also adapted to.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Yeah, I'm adapted from Guatemala. God bless you. So yeah, I kind of share the same mindset of like this is exactly where I was supposed to end up and with my family, and very, very thankful. For econ specifically, um, has like for you talked about the financial stuff and how your dad was showing you how to um track like the stock market with stock sheets back in the olden days. Now you can just go on AI. But has um has it like like changed your view on like the way you teach your class specifically?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Which part?

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Just like the aspect of like, okay, so this the book says this way, but in my personal life, I've noticed it goes more this way, and so is other people. So I'm gonna teach it like this.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

I see. Um, I think my experiences um just kind of enhance some of those foundational ideas, right? So um, you know, I find myself more and more in in my teaching. I have more, you know, I guess it does this means, I guess it means I'm getting older, right? So, but the more I live, the more I real life experiences that I have, and I just try to share those with my students, right? Like the textbook is, you know, and then these foundational ideas are are you know, they're static, you know, and then it's up to us as educators, right, to kind of layer on top of that and share what we can with our students and try to, you know, uh build their understanding through um, you know, real life scenarios and you know, the fact that that's the nice thing about you know economics, right? Like if you're teaching science and you're talking about going to the moon, how many science teachers have been to the moon, right? Right. But in terms of like some of the lessons in economics and personal finance, right, these are things that like all of us are living every single day and the challenges that we're you know dealing with on a regular basis. So um very relatable is why and useful. It's kind of a selling point that I, you know, I start off with on day one is you know, when I introduce the class, I I try to make the point that you know, whether you know, business education and personal finance education and economics is right in your wheelhouse, or whether, you know, as a you know high school senior ready to graduate and go to college, if if you're like, no, I'm a doctor, I'm an engineer, I'm a lawyer, I'm going a different direction, all of this is relevant to you, right? So that with that that relevancy is why I really enjoy teaching it. Um, you know, because I think it's helpful to people um in any avenue, in every any aspect of life.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Forward, I've asked uh the other two teachers I've had on. I asked, how do you uh keep your class from be like becoming monotonous and like rep uh repetitive? Because I know you guys teach a lot of the same thing. So like what type of tactics do you use?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Um I do think there's there's always going to be some of that, you know. Um, because I think despite what this is just a personal philosophy, I guess, right? Um despite the messaging that I think is sometimes out there, I do still think that young people thrive on structure.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

So over my years, you know, you you kind of learn what works and what doesn't, and you want to kind of lean on that structure. Um, you know, and and even if it is monotonous for you know, myself, because I'm teaching the same thing, you know, a couple times a day, you gotta kind of remind yourself that this is the first time that this young person is going through this. Now, you know, as your class starts to grow a lot, and I think maybe this is what you were kind of referring to, you know, you get into the first month, the second month, the third month, and you know, now the guys are getting used to the routine. How do you keep it, you know, from getting too monotonous and too much into the routine? I honestly think the students are the the greatest tool for that, right? Get them involved um and let them start to have a voice and lead the classroom, you know. Um to me that's uh that's probably the biggest uh uh resource that any of us have at our disposal um to you know, to keep things know and offer variety. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

For when you left high school, and maybe uh your dad had more of a bigger impact on you, but like what's one piece of financial advice that you'd give to an 18-year-old?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Okay. So something that my father always emphasized to us. And I didn't take it right away like I should have, but I eventually got there. Um and I teach it in my class and I I highlight it the same way as I'm going to right now. If there was one thing that I would want them all to know and do right away is open a Roth IRA and fund that baby religiously. You know, when it comes to investing time is your number one ally and so don't wait. Start now. Okay, you know, I was talking about this today in my class actually and you might remember this from the first semester is I always try to explain to everyone young old and everybody in between people don't fail at investing because they're not smart enough. They fail at investing because they don't have the discipline for it. Are you willing to put aside what you want right now in order to achieve what you dream for yourself later on down the road, somewhere in your life. You know, you're chasing that American dream. You want to build that beautiful life for yourself and for the people around you. You have the discipline to do it. Start now make it religious put start putting money away and let time be your ally and you'll get there. You know it's not a complicated process but it is challenging. I'm not going to downplay the fact that you know it takes a lot of work. It's it takes a you know a disciplined approach right especially in the world we live in nowadays it's uh it's challenging you know with the things that young people are exposed to on social media we all want it right now right it's very consumer driven very materialistic um I like to think that the culture at Catholic Central helps you build your armor so to speak right um for self-discipline and that can apply here too. So um we just try to teach the lessons and and preach the culture and then hopefully that message drives home and and people do it. Right. So um and hopefully they start a little sooner than I did.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Yeah no I was just wondering because I had to ask you because that's a great question. I'm uh graduating and a couple other of my friends are and you're an economic teacher so I thought I'd ask but besides uh doing football and teaching what do you think the real purpose of school is as a whole yeah this is a great question.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

So and I think you can find the answers like I when I think about the things that I do uh to me the answer is like your soft skills right developing your um socialization developing your leadership skills your time management your organization like all those types of things right and these are all things that we get both in the classroom and we get them in sports as well. Now football certainly is is my avenue but you could apply that to any sports you know like people talk about the sports culture here at Catholic Central and you know they can talk about it in a number of different ways you know uh I think part of having a uh all-male student body is like a lot of guys like sports right so let's use it to to teach these things you know um you know I I remember some of my coaches um like coach Anderson he was my coach uh when I was a sophomore uh here in high school um back on Breakfast Drive and you know he would always talk about you know the football field is just an extension of the classroom right I mean a lot of coaches we see ourselves you know as teachers um you know of a different brand and a different variety so and to me that's like when you think about education um as a whole it's not just book work you know uh I think Catholic Central you think about our culture we talk about developing the whole person developing the whole man right um that certainly is educational that certainly is spiritual but it's also these you know intangible things you know that you can find in a school and I think sometimes there's a lot of the educational world that it gets too wrapped up in you know test scores and grades and all that and certainly we want achievement right we want to help people you know climb the ladder and and you know if their goal is to go to Stanford or go to Harvard or something like that, we want to help them get there, right? But you know I think sometimes there's so much emphasis and stress placed on those types of things. I you know I remember having a conversation back in the fall with one of my students and just trying to explain to them like you know you are not your grades right like you're a tremendous young man with great qualities and you know just because you're uh you know you might get a A minus instead of an A, like that's not that doesn't define who you are or take away from you know the great kid that you are you know it's like I I think sometimes we've kind of lost the plot at times in some of this stuff. We got to recalibrate and remind ourselves what you know what a school community is really all about and is developing people.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

For sure and Catholic Central for anyone listening who's not here I recommend coming here great brotherhood uh specifically uh everything you just said for so that one year that you were teaching before you came to Catholic Central what like what made it so special compared to what Catholic Central is you mean when I was student teaching yeah when you're student teaching well you know obviously it was very different right and um I I'd say it was very apples to oranges you know to Catholic Central right um you know I was a student teacher in a inner rig s inner ring suburb um very different demographically um socioeconomically you know very different in that regard um but a lot of my memories were at the end of the day you know kids all kind of want the same thing right you know they want to be cared about they want to be challenged they want to be developed right those those kind of things are all universal right no matter who you are where you come from you know uh I I very valued like getting to know those young people and you know it's been a long time it was 2008 but you know I still remember a lot of them you know um you know it was a co-ed classroom that that was very different um and some of the challenges that these young people were bringing every single day with them to school um you know I I hope that maybe they one or two of them still remember you know a conversation or a lesson that I gave them because like I said I still remember them um and then you know I think it's the the foundation of of any successful organization is always going to be the people.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

And that's like I worked with and in the same hallway with you know some of the teachers that were also the football coaches there. And you know they were great men and uh great mentors for people that desperately needed them at that time. You know 2008 was a pretty tough time in our country. I know a lot of our students here don't remember it because they were being born right but you know I was just out of college and they were telling everybody how great the economy was going to be we were a little disheveled as a as a nation at the time because of uh 9-11 had happened and um we were going through the war on terror we were still very much in the thick of all that and so there was a lot of 10 high tensions and then you know but there was still a lot of optimism and you know coming out of college you know everybody was kind of saying like you know great economy bright future you know and you know a lot of uh positivity you know in in the long-term outlook for you know somebody like me entering the workforce and you know thinking about starting a life um and then in October right the economy goes in the tank the housing bubble bursts and you know now everything's kind of been tipped upside down on its head so um so you're kind of like watching these families go through some of this stuff you know and they're bringing it to school and um so like I said they they having strong people for those um those kids to lean on was I think crucial at that moment and maybe even at that age I didn't even realize it as much as I do now. But it gives me an even greater appreciation for um having you know some really good role models for a teacher who was still kind of trying to learn how to do all this stuff. So um that's probably my biggest memory from that was just really good role models um from the from the people that I worked closest with.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

From a economic standpoint and just like just like as you're a little bit older um when do you think like now like is the best time to start a family or like um just like something that like you should look forward to in life starting a family?

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Uh-huh so that's an interesting question. Like what time period I don't understand. And I have some in you know some interesting thoughts on that. I don't think I have a a a concrete answer. Okay. But I'll give you the observations that I have which is that people are waiting longer and longer to start families. Right. Right. And there are different reasons for that um which I think there are pros and cons to that um you know the realities of cost cost of living um you know it's becoming harder and harder right to you know chase the American dream as an idea you know because of how expensive everything is you know I look at interest rates and cost of a house you know nowadays and I think you know how number one I was fortunate to have had to do it when I did because now trying to get started I think is that's a very big hill to climb. So I do in one sense understand why um why people wait longer um on the other hand there is a biology aspect to it um and so you know we got to take that into consideration which is not necessarily my expertise per se but I can do math. One piece of advice that I remember getting when I was a young person just married and getting started was that if you wait for the perfect time, you'll never do it. So you know people try to do their best to get all their ducks in a row right and you know find that perfect formula for when they have just the right amount of money and just the right house and just the right everything. My advice would be if you find the right person and you have the right values you're gonna be okay. You'll find your way so um you know if you're if you're you know and certainly here at at CC in our culture, right, we we want to raise you know or develop you know successful professionals but also you know great husbands and great fathers and men of great character right so um to that end you know if I you know try to develop people that have that goal you know family life is incredibly fulfilling um you know in terms of a perfect plan and the time is right like just go for it right like you know be you know be responsible um you know lean into your Catholic faith and you know do it in the right order but yeah you know um like I said uh you know if you're looking for the perfect time you you're gonna be waiting a long time right so sometimes just gotta have faith in God and and everything will work out.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Why do you think it's harder to achieve the American dream than it is than it was for you guys.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

You know that's a tough question. And I think there's more than one answer to that. Um I I would maybe start with like what do we how do we define the American dream? Right. Like how we define it here in 2026 has changed a lot.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

What was the American dream for you growing up for like what was the common American dream?

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Well you know I don't know that I had like a a you know super defined picture but I knew there were a couple things that I were like kind of like non-negotiables to me right and and they all kind of come back to one central thing which is um family life was always going to be really important to me you know like um like as a football coach you know people have asked me in the past you know they've said you know do you ever want to coach in college or anything like that. And you know like my dad he's made all sorts of connections right and so he could have connected me with someone and then from there it would be up to me to kind of you know take it from there and and chart my own path right but um it was never anything I was interested in because I just know the lifestyle in that level of the profession is wild. Whereas whatever my professional life was going to look like I knew I wanted my personal life to involve um structure of family, you know, like for example like being home for dinner every night some things like that were really important to me. I didn't want to be on an airplane all the time. I didn't want a job like that. So for for me like you know the American dream would definitely start with that. I think how it's changed a lot is like our culture is very loud in your face. It's one upmanship all the time. I'm just gonna borrow some some young people terms, right? Like it's done for clout and yeah all that kind of stuff, you know, and it's I feel like we're missing the mark. And and I think you know sadly I can't emphasize this enough that it it's very sad and tragic if you look at the challenges that we have in society amongst young people, especially with like mental health you know I can't help but think that some of that, not all of that, and this is not my expertise per se, but just observational working with young people and so forth um we got to kind of find our way back to our foundational ideas. That includes family that includes faith right find some you know you we talked about humility earlier like you know a humble life is a great life right whereas you know people are chasing some of these material things and calling that the American dream and then they wonder why they're never happy. Right. You know so um people matter most that is something that I have found myself saying more and more in my adult life as time has gone on it's not what you're doing but who you're doing it with is really really important um no matter who you are or where you're at whatever your version of the American dream might look like I like that answer.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

What separates a championship team from a talented team that never wins oh boy uh kind of like the same answer.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Yeah it comes back to people you know okay um can I tell a story of this year's team of course kind of yeah kind of I think answers the question a little bit right so now a little bit of this is maybe a little candid but um the season's over so maybe I could tell the truth to some degree right is that you know speaking of of talented right like um coming into our season I knew we were gonna this was maybe and and I think in retrospect I can say it as an absolute um the most talented group of players that I've coached in 20 years. You know and I think some of the records kind of back that up guys who are scholarship players and closer a little bit sorry. Yeah that's okay um you know guys who are going on scholarship to play college football and things like that you know kind of reflects that level of talent. Um my question was about the team would we be mentally and emotionally tough enough to go through the whole thing again after the season prior had gotten so close and just come up short. You know, and some of the players we graduated were really physically tough and mentally strong players, great leaders you know we had some voids to fill in that department and you know I can be as optimistic as I want as a coach and and like the players that I'm coaching but some of that has to be proven it can't just be me saying I really hope this happens or I really want this to happen. So you know that was a big question mark. And then after the second game at Toledo you know we were down at halftime and being in the locker room there, you know, it was a very intense moment but also very confident and you could kind of feel like the the scenario was presenting us with the opportunity to go ahead and go prove that and we did we went out and came back and we won the game we scored 21 they they didn't score again um and I remember walking off the field at that and I went okay we really have something here and what it was was you know we had the character right um we had the emotional toughness we had the mental toughness you know calm under pressure guys that weren't afraid of the moment right talk about dare to be great you know they weren't they weren't um afraid of you know when the moment called upon them to make it happen right the spotlight wasn't too big um whether it's big plays or little things right hustle plays tough plays making a great block chasing down the quarterback whatever it was you know you had very selfless guys who are willing to do anything and everything for the team right and these are all types of things that you know take a good team with a lot of talent and make them into a great team like these these values of toughness um this this selflessness and camaraderie you know and then from there it was you know there were other moments like when we beat King in week nine I went okay we're tough enough we're also talented enough I think we can beat anybody at that point so um but that first step you know that was really important to us and those intangibles you know we love to call them here we we refer to them as X factors you know those things make all the difference in the world um you know we played some really talented teams this year and I would argue that um we that's where we kind of were able to um gain a great advantage over a lot of our opponents was in those departments those those you know intangible qualities for sure I don't know I mean these are my words not not yours but I don't know the other teams were that talented you guys just destroyed them I'd leave at halftime be like we're up by 50 I'd be like mom coming home early well you know if you're just looking at the outcomes or just looking at the scores um you know there were certainly some that were were lopsided but I have a lot of respect for you know of course the whole process um it's really what makes it so satisfying uh the the whole journey is just knowing what goes into all of it and what it takes to win right so you know I look at some of our our opponents that we play on a regular basis whether they're local public school teams or whether they're our Catholic school rivals and um you know like it's uh winning is hard right so I hope everybody really appreciates you know that part of it I know I do um and I don't take anything for granted so um you know this was a pretty special group and a really special journey um you know and that's why I think that the kind of like the afterglow has lasted as long as it has for you know it's for a reason. Yeah it's been great. Economically speaking how do you think education in schools will look 10 20 years from now yeah so this is a good one in and you know I I I don't want it to sound like I'm punting but I I don't have a crystal ball to be able to say absolutely you know it's gonna look like this uh per se. Um but I'll offer a couple of observations that I have when it comes to you know economics and education as a whole number one is I think that the world is evolving faster than it ever has before. You know I look at from the time I was a kid to now change like they say change is inevitable. Not only is it inevitable, it is happening faster than it ever has happened before. So you know like now we're on the cusp like we're about to live this like you know AI artificial intelligence revolution I really don't think that that's too strong of a word that is that is kind of what we're we're right on the cusp of it's starting and prepare for takeoff right so um that part for sure but more than anything whatever the future holds you know and I was thinking sitting down and thinking about this you know my belief comes back to that I always believe in the Ingenuity and the resilience of young people. And that whatever the future might look like, it's going to be for the better. You know, there's a lot of fear. Talk about this stuff, right? And you know, it probably was the same at the birth of the internet. I was just in a different part of life, you know, so I didn't see it that way. Um, well, I'll give you one, I guess, is you know, I was um in high school when we went through the year 2000 and Y2K, if that means anything to anyone. There was a you know a fear of you know, when the calendars and the clocks all changed over, and you know, we went from 1999 to 2000, right? That there was gonna be some cataclysmic event and it was gonna be this horrible thing, and you know, all our systems were gonna break down and you know, nothing happened, right? So, um, you know, is there an adjustment period? You know, are there things that we're gonna have to adjust to? Absolutely, right? Um, but I do think sometimes maybe that the the the fear of the unknown is maybe overrated. And if we just have keep the faith and believe in the talents and abilities of our young people, um, everything is gonna work out for the betterment of of society and humanity, right? I mean, there's always two sides to it, right? And people that you know are wanna want to use it for selfish reasons or or whatever. So, but in terms of the world of education, I think um, you know, like I talk about you know, uh AI and the different tools, and I I always try to market them and explain, like, hey, these are efficiency tools, they can help you do more, they can help you do more faster, right? Like we're you know, we're just getting started in terms of you know our potential here. So um I think it's more exciting than anything. Um, what is it concretely, absolutely gonna look like? I don't have that answer, but I can say that it's it's exciting, and I think that the best is yet to come.

SPEAKER_02 46:03

What's your like official view on AI? What do you do you like it?

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Do you not like it? Uh I I like it. I do. Um, I think you just have to be willing to adjust, right? Um, you know, there are some things that now, like especially as a teacher, you know, you're not gonna be able to do it the way that you used to do it before, um, you know, because of this technology, right? So, and as long as you're willing to accept that and move forward, you'll be okay. Um, and I think that's a process. Um, I know not everybody is gonna embrace that with open arms. Um, but I do think that as time plays out, I I think it'll be a good thing. Um, but one thing that I always stress, especially to my younger students, is I always try to remind them like, think of it like this who's the robot? Are you telling it what you want out of it, it being, you know, the model, or is it doing all the thinking for you? Right. Because at the end of the day, the goal is still as a person, you want to develop yourself, you know, and have elite talent and elite skills, right? And be a top-tier thinker, right? So if you just take the path of less lesser resistance and let the you know, the model do all the thinking and coming to all the conclusions for you, you're kind of missing the opportunity here. Uh, whereas if you use it as an enhancement and an efficiency tool, you know, we have the ability to develop people's knowledge and talent and skill sets greater and faster than we ever have before. So to me, that's a really positive thing. Um, and it's gonna take a minute to figure out what all of that looks like in the classroom and in society as a whole. Um, but I do think in the long run, I do think it can be can be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

What are some type of activities or hobbies that you do that some people wouldn't guess?

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Okay, so uh people wouldn't guess. I don't know if they maybe they'd guess or maybe they wouldn't. So, but um uh, you know, you spend a lot of time, you know, in a profession like this. Um, you know, you want to try to be active. That's that's kind of something I place a lot of value on. You know, I've been an athlete for you know most of my young life, and then you know, as I moved on to the next phase of life, it was just something that I always found valuable, um, especially, you know, with the way that we live now, more sedentary lifestyles and things like that. Um, so I'm I'm a pretty active person. I try to run, I try to lift, I try to do things like that. And then um, you know, like family time beyond that is probably my number one thing. Uh well yeah, I'll share this one with you, I guess, is uh um something that we like to do in my house is uh we'll watch Jeopardy together. No, that's that's fine. And uh I I'm gonna say this like I think that maybe sometimes um because of your football coach, people think that um you know they they judge your intelligence because of it. Um I I will smoke you in Jeopardy when you get the chance. I'm the master, so that's of random trivia and things of that nature. So yeah. Um don't give me like 16th century your English lit or something like that. But um no, I I enjoy the the mental part of it sometimes. Yeah. So just a little that's good for my kids, you know, they like that kind of stuff. So, and then we can all hang out and have a laugh together.

SPEAKER_02 49:37

If you could give one piece of advice to students who want to succeed in both money and life, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Uh I you know, I think it all kind of permeates back to the same thing, which is um really I'll say it in two parts. You know, it all s comes centers in discipline. You know, can you live the disciplined lifestyle you know is very rooted in in something I mentioned before, right? Like, are you willing to put off what you want right now um for what you want later on? Right. So um we'll we'll reference uh uh something here that happened at Catholic Central uh a year or two ago, right? Nick Sabin came and visited. So you know, like as a football coach, you know, Nick Saban is you know, he's at the top of the profession all time, you know, and somebody that you know we can all learn a lot from, right? Like you know, he's a great closer. Yeah, I know I can figure he. Um you know, he's a great role model, you know, legendary coach. You know, you can glean a lot of really great things from you know his stories and his lessons. And so um, this is kind of paraphrased from him, but I think it's uh really valuable, you know, in not just in sports, but in any aspect of life, you know, he talks about um you know, your daily life comes down to making two different types of decisions every day. And one is is you know making the decision of doing the things that you have to do versus doing the things that you want to do. Are you disciplined enough to do the things that you have to do? That's one choice that you have to make. Then the other choice you have to make is you know, things that you know are not good for you. Do you have the discipline to stay away from those things, yes or no? Right. So um, you know, whether it is in in athletics or whether it's in academics or whether it's in your personal life, whether we're talking about a young person, whether we're talking about an adult, you know, none of it really changes. It still comes down to all those two two choices that we all have to make every single day. And then do you have the discipline to do that? And then I'll add my own layer to it is you know, anybody can do anything once. Do you have the toughness physically, mentally, and emotionally to do that over and over again every single day? You know, we call it the grind, you know, in a lot of cases, right? Sports, we love to talk about that. Um, you know, my experience has taught me that that is when you find out what a person is really like is go through something with them over an extended period of time that's really, really difficult, really, really emotionally, mentally challenging, and find out are they tough enough and are they disciplined enough? Because anybody can do anything once, anything can anybody can do something when everything is perfect and they're feeling good and they're happy and they've got enough sleep and they've got enough money in the bank and all these things, you know. And then you put them under pressure and you put them under stress, and you watch seemingly the people who have it all together and have the most talent, and you watch them start to kind of wilt a little bit, right? And then things aren't quite right, things don't happen in the way that they are. You know, discipline and toughness are undefeated. So whatever you can do in your life to develop those qualities, if your goal is to be a successful anything, I just don't believe that you will ever find that elite level of success unless you have those things first. So, and that doesn't, you know, doesn't have to just be in helmet and shoulder pads, you know. Like if you want to be a great surgeon or you want to be a great, you know, financial analyst or whatever, right? There are going to be some hard days where you know something doesn't quite go right, or maybe something in your personal life is hanging over your head, or you know, your boss is giving you a hard time, and you're thinking, well, I'm doing everything in my power, and this person's still not happy, but you know, I'm trying to climb the ladder of success. And, you know, what's the problem here? Well, you know, you can hang your head and feel bad for yourself and pout and you know, go to your friends and you know, cry about it and whatever, or you can, you know, dig in, you know, and lean on your self-discipline and lean on your toughness and get through it. You know, that is it's a it's part of the human experience, is we're all going to go through those things. There, it's it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when it's going to happen and are you going to be prepared for it when that time comes. Now, the great thing about it is if the first time life knocks you down, you're going to get another chance, right? But, you know, what if those chances are all going to look the same, if they're all going to be equivalent to one another, there's no guarantees of that, right? So the sooner that you develop these talents and skills of discipline and toughness, right? And really the only way to do that is to go through hard things. You know, I tell my my own daughter, my older daughter, my younger one's probably a little too young for some of these lessons, but my older daughter, she's 13, and that's something that we talk about as I tell her the only way you learn to do hard things is by doing hard things. You got to challenge yourself. So, with the end goal being to develop the discipline and to develop the toughness that not only do you want, but you need because someday you are going to become so passionate about something and you're going to want it so badly in your life, whatever that goal and whatever that dream looks like. And it would be a shame if you didn't have the necessary tools in your toolbox to go achieve that at the moment that it presents itself. You know, and the tools that you need above all else, you're going to need that discipline and you're going to need that toughness because those are the types of people that are successful in any arena.

SPEAKER_02 56:03

I love that. Profound wisdom. Mr. Mack, thank you for joining me on this podcast and in the subject. This was a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

Um, I, you know, I loved I love sharing some of these ideas. I hope you know that we got something out of this. And uh great honor. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

That was an hour. No kidding. That flew by. Yeah, it does. When you're podcasting, it really does. Sometimes they'll be like, Rich, we gotta wrap it up. I was like, Oh, trying to get through half my question. Um, but thank you. That was great. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

I hope I hope that that worked for what you went. I know we can.