006: Mark Ball: From Blue Raiders to Red Raiders

Join Coach Ball and I as we dive deep into the game. The ultimate ambassador of the sport, we travel down memory lane from his playing days at Ryder High School in Wichita Falls to success as an Athletic Director in the metroplex as well as Lubbock ISD. Mark has successfully transformed his career from being a champion on the field, to a champion in building them.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

We have Coach Mark Ball in the house today, and he is a legend in the Texas high school coach's world, athletic director's world. Thank you, Coach Boss, for spending time to be here with me.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Appreciate it, Kyle. I'm only a legend to my mother, everybody else's. And a lot heavier on the AD piece than the coaching piece, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

I like to talk about how at people and developed relationships because it all goes into how football has changed my life and taking care of me. And I know we'll get to your stories. Coach Ball is 1995, my first job out of AM, first coaching job with Gary Johnson, Westmaskey. We were in the same district with Wally, where Coach Ball is a legend. I don't care what he said. He he started Wally from a little tiny place to a big place. Really got to know him better through my cousin Mel Maxfield, my hero. Coach dresses to the tens and always looks like I had to make sure my outfit matched today. Because I didn't want coach to outdoor me. He would say that he kind of looked like the janitor. You didn't know if he was a football coach. Remember Mel and I were at a Texas Tech spring ball way back when Leach was there, I think. Got to know Coach, just visiting through spring practice. And I've always really been impressed and respected the way he just goes about his business, the way he handles his business. He taught me so much. Anyway, the relationship really flourished when he let me be a part of the National Football Foundation for the Texas Tech chapter. And I'll let him talk about that more. But the chapter was dead, right? It was dead. And he had already done it in Dallas, which he'll tell you about. But he resurrected it. We went from $2,000 in scholarship the first year to what, $40,000, $50,000 now?

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Yeah, about $50,000 a year we give now.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

And he can go into detail about that, but he let me be a part of that. I'll never forget in friendship. It was Mark Ball, Davis, I think Ron Mayo was there, and Johnny Taylor. Yep. I'm a nobody. And I just had my fingers crossed that you would let me be a part of it. And Coach had a plan, and I volunteered, which I think was part of his plan. But man, it's one of the best things that that I've been a part of. And it's all thanks to Coach Ball. And of course, we see each other from time to time. And I really uh appreciate and just relish our friendship.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

I appreciate that, Kyle. We went through a lot there, but yeah, I think it was a lot of fun on the back end out there in Lubbock. Now that you were a head coach and A D. And when you're doing something like that, starting a chapter up, you you got to reach out to all your possibilities. And so it's everybody from Johnny Taylor to Kyle Maxfield. You got to find the, it's just like building a team. You got to find the right mesh. So it was a lot of fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yes, sir. The other thing that's impressive about you, coach, is how much you've given back to the game because of what the game gave to you, as far as National Football Foundation. That bottom line, that's about helping kids with the scholarships and recognizing them for the game of football. I think my generation and even the younger guys, we struggle with putting football where it needs to be and how important it is. And you talked, it was luncheon, and we talked over there by Lowry Stadium one day, and you brought it that day. And I was sitting there eating my lunch, and you got up to speak, and you brought it about how important it was. Need people like you, especially with everybody want to be politically correct. And we don't have any agenda against anybody else, but we want everyone to realize what the game of football brings to people, kids, and just society in general.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, we all love our game, and there are a lot of good sports. And growing up, we all we played them all and lived them all, and that's what I want for my grandsons. I want them to be able to go to school where they can play everything they want to play and enjoy. But something about football was always special, and and I can tell you uh how special it is. Uh I graduated from high school a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Wichita Falls Hey, we gotta bring up Wichita Falls, though.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah, I graduated from Ryder High School in Wichita Falls a long time ago. And Kyle, once a month, me and some of my teammates, we have a standing breakfast still. And look, the whole the whole thing uh about it is these weren't these they're not all guys from my neighborhood. You know, we went through integration my freshman year, and what these guys went through and everything, and all these guys they all went to school, they all got their degrees. I mean, overcame stuff, three or four living in the projects and everything, having to get up at five o'clock every morning, catch a bus, ride all the way across town, into practice, wait for that bus to get there, then it drops you off somewhere when you get back, and then you gotta walk a mile to get home. Nobody understood what these guys. But here's the game. We we still get together. Yeah. That's what's special about it. And when we get in there at breakfast, it's just like we were in the locker room yesterday. I know.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

There's nothing else like it. No. Nothing else like it. The reason it's such a fraternity or so close is because I played every sport too, but that bond you make, just everything that goes into football, you talked about the practices and all that. It's a it's a bond, it's hard to replicate that bond. Doing anything else.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Yeah. No way. No way. There's to me, it's the the physical piece of it, the the mental piece of it. You know, we we just tell me we had one day, uh, one day about every two weeks, we had a boxing day in off-season. I mean, I wasn't a very tough guy, but man, it did make me tougher. But you just hang in there and go as hard as you could go for three minutes or two you got knocked out. So and the bath thing, Golden Gloves was so big in Wichita Falls. I actually had two teammates that were Golden Glove State champions. And that's impressive. Hey, they were in there the boxing with the red. You just prayed to God he didn't match up with one of those guys. And one of them was left-handed. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

So you bring up Wichita Falls. I can listen to Coach Ball. He's a great storyteller. Wichita Falls rider. You got the Lubbock, you got Amarilla. Then you get to the Metroplex, you got the Metroplex, you got Central Texas, Austin Central, Houston, and then you got Wichita Falls. I don't know if you felt this way growing up, but it's just kind of over there. But there's he tells me stories, I'm like, wow, I didn't know that, but I should have known that. And there's so many great legends, and the game of football has been played the right way in Wichita Falls for a long time. And you can speak to that.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, I mean it was it was a great football town. Joe Golding. All you have to do is Google him, and that guy was unbelievable. I don't know how many state championships he won and how many more he played in. He was the head coach at Wichita Falls High before Ryder and Hershey opened. Uh and uh two of his assistant coaches were my head coach, Morris Mercer, and Jess Stiles. And then Jess went on to be the head coach at Hershey. Uh you talked about a great man out at tech all those years. He's he he's something else. Just really, really miss him. But there's so many more. I mean, we had we had great players, and of course, the thing I loved about Coach Golding was he ran the old box offense, a single-wing offense. That's all when I was a kid. That's all I saw. Ryder, rider ran it because Joe Bob Tyler was the head coach then, and Joe Bob was had been one of his assistants. And uh and Wichita Falls ran it and uh won all those state championships with it and everything, and so it was unique, but uh some uh some pretty good players came out, and you just kind of you start thinking about the names. We were at breakfast the other day, somebody was talking about Rick Burns. He was an I back at IBAC at Nebraska, and then he went on and played in the NFL. And you go through all those guys. We had a yeah, we had had a lot of great football tradition. Uh a memorial stadium was built when I was in eighth grade. Really?

SPEAKER_02 8:55

I coached a few games there at Memorial Stadium.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

It was the first uh first field with artificial turf. Really? I believe in the nation high school field. Wow. Joe Golding was obviously behind all that. Uh it was funny, funny story. I'm not gonna get into all of it, but you know, with the Greek statue up there.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

At Memorial?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

So the story was, I don't know if this is exact, but the week before the season started, Coach Golding had every football player in town from seventh grade all the way to varsity from every school. We had to suit up in full regalia, and we went out to the stadium out on the field. It was like 120 in Wichita Falls. Of course it was. I was in eighth grade. We were having a grand opening festivities, and they unveiled that statue with the Greek athlete on it. Now the story was, the story was that a man there in town, it was a it was a jeweler, he had that, he did have it made in Greece, and it was shipped all over it. Coach Golden had no idea about any of it. And like literally the day before they put it up, they showed it to him. I don't think he was happy about it. That was a good story. Coach Golden was pretty, he was pretty real.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Yeah, I keep it blunt.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah, he was pretty real. Yeah. Every guy I ever taught to play for him, he's one of those they either loved him or disliked him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

The last time I think we played there, I was at Bang's and we played Canadian, so I was on the losing end of that game. But it was a great place to meet up with Canadians. Yeah. And they took good care of us there.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah, it's a great place. I think in my uh junior year we played Wichita Falls High there for the district championship. We had 18,500, and then the next year with the same thing, and we were about 20,000 the next year.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

And that's in the 70s, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Yeah, early 70s, 73 and 74.

unknown 11:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

That's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah, it's always fun when you win. When you when you lose, it's not too much fun, no matter how many people are there, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Uh let's get into your coaching career. I know, and you don't have to go into every stop if you don't want to. You've been some places that are on the map now, but it was kind of before their time, due to population or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

You really got probably due to me, I mean it's. No, no.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

You were at Wally for how many years, coach?

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Uh we'll see. I was there from '96, and the last season that I coached football was uh 2005, and then I stayed on there as full-time AD. Came to Lubbock in December of 2009.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Okay. Do you want to give details about any of your stops?

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Because I know there's a lot of them, but Yeah, I think the thing is the big piece was I was fortunate to be able to start as an assistant coach at LD Bill and work for some great people that really I if I hadn't done that, I don't know. I don't know if I'd have been able to uh have the life that I've had, to be honest. Obviously, I'm a person of faith. I believe God has a plan for you and all that. Being able to start out at LD Bell and you know, work for Tim Edwards.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Tim Edwards, legend.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah, and our two coordinators, Jack Gibson and John Matthews, man, they were they were great. And Jack and I are still very close at this day. I worked on his side of the ball with him. Uh Bob Briscoe, Richard Dibble. I mean, Mike Shabake, those guys going. I I just learned so much. Y'all won a bunch of games. Yeah, we had a great run. Yeah, we had a great run. Tell you a funny story, if you want to hear about Oh, I love funny stories. So we'll throw out some names here, but that's what the show's about. Uh you know, in 1982 we played in the state championship. And uh we played Beaumont Westbrook. Jerry Ball. That just sounds fast when you say the name. Jerry Ball.

unknown 13:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

He was like Hall of Famer. Yeah, Gerald Landry was pretty, pretty tough. Anyway, so we were on a deal there where we always played on Friday nights. And we played almost every Friday night, and most of the time it's in Texas.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Even through the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Because I was a guy's head coach. I like to play on Saturday afternoon. Really? Because that's what we did in Wichita Falls.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Oh, okay. Saturday afternoons kicked my butt.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

I closed my eyes and still, those were some of the funnest times I ever had. Y'all played Saturday afternoons. Sun's shining, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

How hot was it on Saturday afternoon?

SPEAKER_01 13:57

It was well, it wasn't hot that time of year. Oh, yeah. Okay. And fact it was a lot of times it's better because Friday night it might be real, and Saturday you could actually get some sun sometimes. And actually make it a little bit better. But anyway, so in the semifinal game, we're playing Dallas Carter on Friday night. The next day on Saturday, Converse Judson is playing Beaumont Westbrook in the Astrodome Saturday afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

So we're fortunate enough to win. And the next day our superintendent, our Don Brown, who was man, he's just a tremendous guy, lives in the Austin area now. Yeah. Love that man. And Tim and Jack and John. And for some reason they always took me, I guess because I could write and be the be the script or whatever. So anyway, so we fly down to we fly down to Houston, rent a car, go to the Astrodome. Scouting. Yeah. Scouting, yeah. Yeah. So think about this. Converse Judson. Head coach was Frank Arnold. Offensive coordinator, Dennis Parker. Defensive coordinator, D.W. Rulledge.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

He was the DC.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Yeah. Yeah. And then all those other guys that came behind him as head coach, they were all assistants. It was quite the staff. Anyway, game's over. And Jack told me, he said, hey, this was still old 16 millimeter film. He said, hey, you're gonna have to go to the locker room and exchange some film for us. Okay. So I go up there. Well I had to exchange this film, obviously, with Judson. Well, they Westbrook had just upset him. Nobody thought Westbrook was because Westbrook was 6-4. That was the first year you took two teams to the playoffs. They were a second place team. Wow. And Judson was a dynasty fan. Coach, I sat over there in the corner the whole time that watched the press interview Frank Arnold and everything, and I was still over there. I wasn't about to ask that man where the film was. And thank God finally some assistant, what are you what are you doing here? I'm supposed to exchange the film. Okay, let me let me work on it. Anyway, there they couldn't. And finally, we get it done. Coach Arnold says, Hey, who are you? Coach Ball from Bell. I'm exchanging the film. I zoomed out the door, man. I was I was like so intimidated. I mean, Frank Arnold and D.W. Rutlish, Dennis Parker. Yeah, I just wanted those three. I was scared to death, man.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

But you got the film.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yeah, so I was just lucky to be able to start it, start at Bell, and then I wanted to, I thought I wanted to be a head coach.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

LD Bell Raiders, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Yeah, Blue Raiders. The Blue Raiders. Blue Raiders. The Blue Raiders.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Oh, Tommy Maddox. Yeah. Dennis Allen. That's Dennis Allen's my homeboy.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah. Yeah. Dennis' older brother was a really good player. Jeff found a fact on our 86 team that got beat in the semifinals. He was a as a sophomore, he was backup safety force. Had to actually play when we played Wichita Falls High. They run the single wing. Joe Bob Tyler was head coach, had been killed. They'd just beat San Angelo Central 28 to nothing the week before. We worked all week because I knew how to run the single wing. You had the scouting report? I had him on scout team. We gave such a great picture in it. We were ready. Which is hard to do. First play of the game, my strong safety knocks himself out. Take it on the blocker. So I had to play Jeff Allen. He did a heck of a job. Dr. Allen now, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Dr. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah. Oh yeah.

unknown 17:54

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Grady. Grady, the dad. Did you get to know Grady? Good man. Yeah. It was funny because when I was there, we had Grady Allen. So we coached his boys. Larry Cole. We had some guys there that was some pretty good lineage, but they were they were all great kids.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Wouldn't you say when you were coaching that bell, as far as the Metroplex, it was kind of it was pretty new and just kind of prime real estate back then, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Yeah. It was kind of the good mix. Yeah. It was kind of the South Lake Carroll at the time. That's what I wanted to say. And Carroll was class A then when we were there. Ledbetter used to come over there and visit with us when he first got there. I remember. But I'll never forget I got I applied for two or three jobs, and the job I really wanted was Burt Burnett. It was open.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Not far from Wichita Five.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

No, no, no. And I was on I was 28 years old, man. Anyway, and I got down into the final two, but they hired Jerry Watson. So I was good with it. We were getting into the spring. I need to get on the track for football and everything. So I just zoomed, went on, and then the first week of June, I got a call at my house one morning at six o'clock.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

It was which is late. In the summer going out.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

A guy named P. D. Shabe. P. D. was from Graham, Texas. Graham Stairs. Played at TCU. Okay. I coached his boys at Bell. He was an executive or Bell helicopter. P. D still still blowing and going today. Just that great, great guy. And he said, Do you have any interest in uh Graham? Lost their head coach. I said, sure. And he said, All right, do you be at the truck stop in Weatherford at seven o'clock tonight?

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Quick turnaround. First head job.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah. And you look back at your career, a lot of us, I was my goal was I was wanting to if I was gonna be a head coach, here's what would happen. A lot of guys weren't willing to go anywhere. And you're trying to wait for the right job and pop up, we don't have to move and all that. But your other choice is get out there and take one you can get and try to make the most of it. And so that's what I did. I my my long-range goal was to be back in the Metroplex and at a four A and Five A job where I was the head coach and the athletic director.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

I always felt like that was the best job there was. And uh so anyway, we got there. It took a lot of you know moving. A lot of elbow grease. A lot of a lot of moving and shaking, yeah. Yeah. And it's funny too, you go back and you think about it. Now four teams go to the playoffs. A lot of things get changed for you. And I think about two or three times you have you don't get in because of tiebreaker. I played some teams only, lost two games. We lost to Vernon one year and lost to South Lake Carroll one year and didn't get the playoffs. So anyway, that's all. It all works out in the wash. I was able to get back to to Wiley. Of course, Wiley wasn't very good when we got there. Uh just gone to 4A and everything. But they had they had won in the past, so they'd won a state championship. I was fortunate enough to get back there and went to work and got her cranked up again.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

One thing that's that I think would our audience would like to hear is the guy that you hired at Wiley to get it get it going out there and build it. You were eighty there when it was two high schools, when it grew into two high schools? How and important it is to hire you talked about this in the very beginning, how important it is to hire the right people for the job. And you did a You have a knack for hiring the right people and talking them into taking the job.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Yeah, I I love just being able to uh get with people and uh really the the challenge of trying to find the right person and uh being the right fit and trying to get you're always trying to get the best thing possible for your kids and your community. And it it takes a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of research. I always did feel good about I felt like that was one of the things that that I that I did well was have the opportunity to hire good people and try to try to get I was very fortunate to get some of the people that I that I got. When you're a full-time A D, it's the probably the biggest piece of the puzzle. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

I think of course you were so successful as an AD, but it takes talent to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of people. I know I have them, and and I think I'm pretty honest about what my strengths and weaknesses are. You have a an eye for talent and what what certain personality is gonna fit a certain situation.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah, that's a huge piece of it because all the personalities are different, and you have to you have to find the right fit if you're hiring an assistant coach on your staff, but then you have to right find the right fit for that school, for that community, you know, to to make sure that it's that it's gonna mesh and it's gonna have a chance. Uh because it is not a easy uh not not so much a I would say it's it i it's not an easy thing to do. No. I mean it it's really not. And a lot of people that's where a lot of people miss the mark before they ever get started. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

That's a point I was trying to make. It's uh talent that a lot of ADs don't have to the degree that you have.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

I was talking to somebody the other day, I'll tell you somebody called me trying to or trying to hire a football coach or whatever. They're asking me about search firms. So I was telling them some of my history with search firms, and and then I said, if I'm gonna have a search firm, I'm gonna I'm gonna go out and get somebody like uh Steve Williams at Allen. I mean, yeah, I I gotta hire some coaches now. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, have a little credibility. Right. I mean, he had a great knack for for hiring head coaches, man, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

All right, so you come out to Lubbock, to God's country, and I don't know if you want me repeating this, but coach, whereas I would probably take a job just because of the name of the job more than coach would. He's gonna research it and make sure everything's lined up. Basically, you turn down the South Lake Carroll AD job.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Because you didn't feel good about it. No. For whatever reason. And most I bet nine, 99 out of a hundred guys get offered that job, coach, they jump on it. Not coach ball.

unknown 25:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Is that fair to say?

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Well, yeah, it's true. I did, but we just we just never could agree on. There's a few things I had because I had a great job in Wiley. Yeah. I had a great job in Wiley. If I'm gonna leave the big thing is you I've always wanted to work, try to get better, and that that's the and you say, well, South Lake, I told them that it should be a university. Right. My my deal was I would I was gonna I was gonna brand them as USC, the University of South Lake Carroll, like Parr does with his U. So we got up, we I all this stuff, and I had had five things that I had to have, and we just couldn't get there. Couldn't couldn't get there. And uh search firm called me about the Lubbock job, and uh it was intriguing, and it obviously the pay was good. I had to think about retirement, but my big deal is I can't come to look you got a lot to do out there.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

A lot.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

And are you gonna let us try to get better? Or if you if that's not in the cards, I'm just gonna stay where I am. I got a great job.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

I know it was a search firm, but was Gonzalez the superintendent?

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Karen Garza.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Garza. Garza. You talk about God's plan. You know, I think Coach Ball come to Lubbock ISD, they were about to be in a transition just because of the timing of it. I think you were the perfect guy for that. And you took them to the next level. Because it was Amarillo and Lubbock kind of battling up there and this and that. And I know there's a lot of factors that go into it, but the hires that you made, the renovation of Lottery Field, you rolled in the Lubbock, you went to work.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Yeah, and they invested a lot. People invest something, then you can you have something to you have something to work with. And the bond, the bond was big. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

I remember you well, that's another story. Go ahead, coach.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

So we yeah, yeah, trying to get trying to get that bond increased and everything, and all the things we went through when they were trying to hire me, you know, because I was a couple times so, well, if we can't do that, I'm not coming. And part of it was like too forming the middle school district that we with friendship and love at Cooper. Because we had to play better competition. We went to Wiley, I don't know why, but Rod Poe and Steve Williams and Randy, all those guys, they let me come into their middle school district. Well, we got pounded for two years, but we learned to play the speed of the game. It got it started paying off for us. And same thing, same thing in Lubby. I just felt like we had to play, we had to play, play against better people.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

You bring up a good point that I like to make on this show from time to time. You do it the right way, and that's from the bottom up. And I I've always invested in the middle schools, whether I was in Sudan with 30 kids in junior high or shallow water, well, we had 150. But you have to invest. You probably increase the stats at the middle schools, right? Yep. As far as coaching. Yep. That's huge. Mel talked about that all the time. Stoppings, just little things here and there. The AD packages that you were able to put together, not monetarily, but the suburbans that you got on the travel allowance, all those things because you wanted it to be done the right way. Yep. Yep. Yep. Always respected that.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

100%. I'll never forget. The middle school, these guys, they probably heard me say that's that's your that's your lifeline.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

And you got to start, and with all those things going, what I tried to do is create a deal where Monterey, its feeder system with its own town, Coronados with its own. And you were at AC Head Football, he was in charge of all that. And I remember going to Wiley when I started there, I would I had a a pen that said future pirate. I would take the whole the whole week of homecoming, I would go pin a pin on every elementary student in the district. Wow. Took me three days, nonstop.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

I was about to ask how long that take you.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

But start investing in those kids. If you can get sixth grade pre-athletics and doing some of the things. He was a great guy. We sat down there, he said he said, All right, all you got over there is a new high school building. You know, if anything else, he said, What do we have to do to win in football here? So one of the things I told him, I said, Well, we need to we need to double the number of coaches we have in the middle school. He did that the first year. That's big. I'd never seen that.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Yeah, not in one year.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

Yeah.

unknown 30:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

What's your I know it's hard to pick just one. Do you have a uh proudest achievement that you were able to do while you as an athletic director?

SPEAKER_01 30:11

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

It's hard to name just one, I know.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Yeah, there's so many things. When you look at the the athletic piece of it, you know, we had some part of the other, we're trying to get football where it was we had to make a run at that. So we we invested and spent a lot of time and we we did a lot of good things there. But then on the on the other end of it, Estacotta won state championship in basketball.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

We had we got our softball teams and our baseball teams back to the state tournament. I was really proud of what I know it sounds crazy, but I'm gonna tell you what. I put our dive coach and our swim coach in charge of the ac Aquatic Center, and those are still two of the best people that I ever worked with. Really? They would come to all the coordinator meetings during and they got involved. They were they supported our team. They were just they were in blue when I left there, I think it was fifty-one all Americans in swimming and diving.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Wow. I'd say higher.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Yeah, we had our kids all a bunch of them in division one, one of them almost made the Olympic team and stuff. Wow. Stuff like that. And the big thing too is just always everywhere was increasing participation numbers. Always that was always big for me. Those are things that you're and then you get away from it. Well, being able to get the Football Foundation chapter going again where we're giving fifty thousand dollars in scholarships to kids every year. We started a Lubbock ISD Athletic Hall of Honor.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

I was just about to bring that up.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

So I can't tell you how many places I've been involved that I've had friends or what are colleagues that we've helped start a Hall of Honor and everything. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

I still got to pick your brain on that one of these days because we want to get it started up at Brentwood where I'm at right now. So I got to talk about where we really bonded is when you invited me, my defensive coordinator at AM was Coach Bob Davey. And Mark son Toby is playing linebacker for University of New Mexico. Head coach is Bob Davey. Coach says, Hey, you want to go out to Albuquerque and let's watch some sports.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

It was about probably, I don't know, 12, 13, 13. 12 or 13. Probably 13, 14.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Yeah, I was the head coach at Child of Water. Bulletproof back then, coach. We were rolling. I thought I had all the answers. The wife Lori went with us, right? We drove out to Albuquerque and made Spring football. Spring football. Get out there. I've got to tell this story, and you can tell it better than me. But we walk into the football facility, and for some reason we walk down the hall. I think the first person that we see.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Well, you the reception, and so as soon as we check in, we turn around and Coach Davy w walked out of his office down at the very end of the hall.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

And of course He knew we were coming. Yeah, he he knew he was looking for you. Yeah, oh, one of the hardest uh rips that I ever had as a college. The hardest. It was uh safety blitz. Coach Davy put it on on the field with Patrick Bates, first round NFL pick, who could he could brush the A-gap. I was not gonna be very effective. But the second team's running it, and I'm going through the B gap, and he unleashed. It was towards the end of practice, but he unleashed his voice was bouncing off the third deck in Caulfield. My name was among some expletive words. But he said, Hey, you remember that time? Coach Bob was right there. He said, You remember that time I I was like, Coach, how can I forget? Like, yes, sir, I remember. I go through the A gap, not the B gap. I remember that.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

We we had a fun time. Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Bob Stanley?

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Yeah, that's where Bob, he's Division I coach 37 years. That's the house he bought where they were gonna retire.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

And he always let me use that house whenever I went to watch Toby play or go to springball or anything. And now Bob's back there. The guy's still trying to coach football in New Mexico, helping out and everything. Unbelievable offensive line coach.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Oh man, I gotta get him on the show.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Oh my gosh. That would be so great.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

What I appreciate about Coach Ball, anytime, whether it was a glazier clinic or wherever, you know, now that you're at Hellas, which we'll talk about, you always introduce me to people. You took time. You were always good about that. Hey, Kyle, I want you to meet so-and-so. I want you to meet Coach Maxfield. You took time, and that I always appreciated that. And not just with me, you do that with everybody. Try to. I met so many great people just through standing at your booth. Just standing at the booth.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

We didn't even talk about Coach Dabbs.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

Oh, yeah. Coach Dabbs.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I thought about him today because I saw an ex. It was Johnny Lamb's birthday. Oh, really? However many years that he's been gone now. I remember one night Coach Dabbs called me and said, Hey, I'm in town. Do you know where you want to meet me for dinner? And I said, Yeah, so we met him over at Ruth Chris Steakhouse or something at Plano.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

Hey Coach will take you to some nice restaurants. I have bummed many a good steak because Coach Ball just invited me anyway. Go ahead, Coach.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

We'd go over there and he said, Hey, I got a surprise for you. I said he said, Guess he's having dinner with us. Johnny Lamb Jones. Wow. Of course he had recruited him when he was at Texas and everything.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Lampasses, right? Yeah. Coach Bridges and I were just talking about him the other day.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Yeah. I would like to bend. I just think about the think about the track season when he was at Lampassas and Curtis Dickey was at Bryan and how many times they ran against each other that spring. Wow. Huh? That'd be some good hundreds, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Man. I didn't think about that. That's like Coach Logan saying, Yeah, I played against Jimmy Johnson in high school. Yeah. Like, what?

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Or this Dickey. I'd love to see some of those, uh, some of those meets. Yeah. Something else for sure.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

When you left Lubbock ISD, did you retire from TRS?

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Then eventually ended up working for Hellas Construction. Yep. I'm going to give them a big plug, Coach, so maybe the higher-ups could sponsor this show. That's right. That's right. Let's do it. So before I really got to know Coach Ball, I'd put in the Shallow Water, which was uh, as Ronnie Flowers would say, brand X. And then when I left Shallow Water, went to Brownwood, then the Banks, and Coach Ball, you took over West, basically everything west of Abilene, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:25

West of Fort Worth.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

West of Fort Worth. From the top of the panhandle.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

Yeah, but then I whittled down. For the last six years, I just went west to I had that little corridor. I did Kermit and Wink and Minehands. And then north I went to Plainview. South I went to Junction.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Started, I started in Erath County.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Huh. Yeah, those I think Stephenville. Those ISDs around Kermit and Pegas, they they have a few pump jacks around there, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Yeah. Pump jacks and a lot of good people.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

A lot of good people. Yeah.

unknown 38:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

You've had. I don't think I think your success as an AD head football coach translated to the business world as good or better than any coach I've seen. Because I think they underestimate coaches' abilities doing that at times. And you got in there and just started blowing it up, coach.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

Well, it took a year. I didn't know if I was going to make it that first year or not.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

But now you probably can't count how many fields you've put in in West Texas.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

So I had to do a deal the other day. You had to add them up? So as of last Thursday, I have done I've sold 76 football fields. Wow. Five full-size soccer fields. 26 baseball softball complexes. I don't know how many tracks.

SPEAKER_02 39:01

And we're talking about West Texas where the the population density is not like a metroplex.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

I don't know how many, and I didn't even count the city stuff I did like Burrell Huffman Park and Lubbook and all the that big baseball softball complex at Clyde. Impressive. Blessed. Impressive.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Really blessed. People trust you. Number one, y'all have a great product. The technology, y'all are always trying to stay on top of that, which is big. On Bangs, we put in the what's the name of the turf called, Coach? The Matrix Helix. Matrix Helix. Yep. And we were kind of the first around to put in the waffle pad. Yep. Wave pad. Wave pad. Yeah. Which was, I'm telling you, people are going to think I'm making this up, but we had turf, and it was old, it was hard. It was, what do they call the test on the G Mags. The G Mags was not so good on that. From that season when we put in Yoss Turf with the pad, at the end of the season, my my feet didn't hurt. Oh, yeah. I tell coaches that all the time, and they look at me like, ah, that's an exaggeration. I'm telling you, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Yeah. Yeah. So imagine how the players feel. Yeah, leg recovery. I think it's a huge advantage. You can practice on that field. It's going to help you on Friday night. Yeah. That's what we put a pad in in Wiley and we built that stadium in 2002. And we had a we had a week that's going to be real rainy. And we had an indoor. We didn't like to go in the indoor light unless we needed to. But we just built two nice grass practice fields. Anyway, the weather's bad, so we practiced. We had to practice up at the stadium all week. We got in there on Sunday, we had our standing. One of my coaches said, Coach, I'm just going to say, I think our legs are fresher from practicing on the pad.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

On that, in that turf than on the grass. So we started practicing there every day. So we never went back to the grass field.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

I was spoiled with turf, especially the good turf, my last four years in Bang. But we Brentwood, Kristen, we have the grass, and it's good grass, but I got spoiled. I miss it. My feet hurt a little bit more now, Coach. Well, because I'm older, but your your sons, I I know they both played for you at Wally.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Yeah. Well, Toby actually finished playing for Coach Howard.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

Coach Howard.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

I know you're proud. Their athletics and football's still a part of their occupation. Yep. Yep. Uh with Cody's with uh Pro Maxima doing great. He put in our weight room at Bang's. And Pro Maxima has up their game in the last few years. Yeah. They're as good as any weight equipment, I think.

SPEAKER_01 41:55

Of course, I'm not trying not to be too impartial, but they've got some new ownership, new management. And they're based in Texas. Yeah, in Houston, right? And that's what I love about Hillas. We're we're based in Texas. They're based right there in Houston. Been there for 50 years. Right. So I think it means a lot.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

And then Toby, your younger son, is in the Metroplex with game one.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and to and to be able to work in the Metroplex.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

Yes, sir. They do a great job. Ronnie Flowers, he's supposed to be on the show next next week or two.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Ronnie and John Cardinal and the whole Cardinal family and Chris Wilde and all those guys.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

I try to reach out to John every now and then in case I need a partner in a scramble.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Yeah, he's a good partner to have.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

By the way, Coach took care of me yesterday. We played at the Calm Plantation here in Granberry. He has a nice place, nice setup, and and it was a good time. The the course is kind of in transition, but all four of us really pretty even.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Yeah. Wasn't any scratch golf. That's true. Well, if you had quit working so hard, you'd you'd be breaking 80 every time. I don't I wouldn't advise, I want you to keep your wife happy.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Yeah, but yes, sir. She's the best. She's the best. I'm I'm headed back down there. I'm gonna take her out tonight. Coach is always making sure I'm taking care of business because I can get pretty tunnel vision. His example is a husband and a father and all that. Coach, I know I look from a distance, but that's all noticeable. Very noticeable.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

So I I I appreciate it. I tried. It's just it's the same, but just faith based. Yes, sir. Uh no doubt. That's the only that's the only answer there is for whatever whatever we're going through. I know. I remember when I see Joe. Joey McGuire's first year at tech, and so uh they had a panel of me and Parchman and uh Parchman that was Midland League? Yeah, Carly Charlie Johnson, the old coach at Children's Children. Yeah, and uh legend. Yeah, and uh Warren. Steve Warren, yeah. And so I said, uh first of all, I thought so I don't know what I'm doing on this panel. I said these guys all won a state championship. Well, I don't think Charlie Johnson ever did. I think he played in like semifinals like twenty times or something, right? He's probably the best coach out there that hadn't. Oh. He was the but he didn't win a state championship. No.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Uh uh. But he Oh my gosh, yeah. You bring his name up against anybody.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

Yeah. But so we got to the we got to the end and somebody asked asked us a question. The last question we were supposed to answer, and I I just told him, I said, let me tell you. Every job had there's many a day. I just got up in the morning, went to my closet, got on my knees, shut the door, because I didn't know how I was gonna make it that day.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

Man, now that's great.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

That's only that's the only thing I knew to do. That's that's advice I'm gonna give you.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

That's one of the keys. We talk about the keys to unlocking success. Yeah. That has to be number one. Yeah.

unknown 45:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

And most of my life I've kept it number one. When I didn't, it didn't turn out so good. And now, what you know, I was kind of hesitant to really go all in at the school I'm at, the private school I'm at, Brentwood Christian. There's some very godly people there. I just I've always had a hang up, not to get all churchy and stuff, but had a hang up of being hypocritical. Yeah. So I was worried about we all fall short, right? Absolutely. And I'm so glad you said that about praying because Brentwood Christian is a it's a lot of things that it should be and what it shouldn't be. Yep. Just like everything. That's everything. Everything. Yep. But with our weekly chapels that we do Wednesday mornings, I think it was the public school in me, not being so there with your faith every day. Yeah. Not that we weren't, but it's different. Yeah. And I finally said, why am I putting these restraints? Just go all in. Yeah. I'm closer to the Lord the last few years for a lot of different reasons, but that's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

Yeah. And I mean, that's that's the only way you make it. Only way. Right. It's life. Yep. And then you think about look at think about Mill.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

Mm-hmm. I know.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

It's gone now.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

I know. Yeah. Yeah. When I'm talking about jobs or changing careers and this and that, you're like, well, we're not guaranteed tomorrow. That's exactly right. That's what you told me. Yeah, that's exactly right. Great wisdom, great advice. You're one of those guys I could call any day. And if you can't answer right then because you're in a meeting, you would call me back. And you would give me great advice, very similar advice to Mel. Tell me about your grandkids. Let's finish up with your grandsons.

SPEAKER_01 47:15

Okay. All right. Well, my oldest grandson is Kobe, and he's a sophomore at Godley. And uh my youngest one.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

The Wildcats?

SPEAKER_01 47:26

Yep. Yep. And my youngest one is in fourth grade over there.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

And then just found out last weekend that Toby and Riley are expecting their first grandchild around October, November, sometime.

SPEAKER_02 47:41

All right.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

Yep. Looking forward to that one.

SPEAKER_02 47:43

You can tell he didn't. If he was a football coach, that was some bad planning, but since he's not, he'd be. No. I know you're very proud. Coach does a great job of posting stuff on X. Bob Boy 1 and Bob Boy Two, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:58

That's him.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

I have a granddaughter that's 10 months old. Reagan's in Brownwood. So I'm going to see her tomorrow morning. We're all going to church together. I'm going to spend the whole day with her. I'm not at the level of being a granddad that you are, but I hope someday I can have my kids in a close proximity. I know it's hard to do, but with my grandkids as close as you do, that's a great, great setup you have.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Yeah, yeah. I mean, blessed 100, 100%. And looking forward to the day I can just go to ball games and play golf. Yes, sir. That's what I'm looking forward to. Trying to get there.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

This was great, coach. I appreciate you being here. Thank you for your time and friendship. And this this is a special episode. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

I appreciate uh just the invite. Yes, sir. And it goes back to building our game. It's been so valuable for so many of us. But if I should tell my people if we don't tell our story, somebody else is gonna tell it for us. Absolutely. And you may not like the way they tell it.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

Great point. All right. Good ending right there, coach. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

Sun is down, the lights are bright, getting my fix on a Friday.