First Look into: Inside the Den

You can learn a lot about a football program by listening to the people who live inside it. We kick off Inside The Den with Justin Park, a recent Arkansas State graduate who went from player to staff, balancing a fast-moving life shift that includes marriage, a kid, and stepping into coaching. Justin’s story starts in Birmingham, Alabama, where he learned the value of support, humility, and the kind of accountability that earns trust in a locker room. 

We talk through what it really means to build culture in college football, why leadership gets heavy when everyone is watching, and how a rebuild actually feels across multiple seasons. Justin shares how COVID changed recruiting and decision-making, why he recommitted when Coach Jones arrived, and what helped the program take steps forward and finally reach a bowl win. If you’re searching for Arkansas State football insights, college football leadership, or what coaches look for in players, this conversation stays practical: effort, details, film study, and doing the hard things when they are unpopular. 

We also get honest about NIL and the student athlete schedule. Justin breaks down the part most people miss: NIL can mean groceries, gas, and breathing room for athletes balancing class, early film sessions, practice, and homework, while also generating revenue for the sport. We close with what we’re building with Inside The Den: real stories from athletes, staff, and community-minded leaders, including the unseen struggles behind big stat lines. Subscribe, share this with an Arkansas State fan, and leave a review, then tell us what topic you want us to tackle next.

Transcript

Welcome To Inside The Den

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So, hey everyone, thanks for joining us. We are here for Ridd is essentially our first test recording for Inside the Den uh with myself, Barker Dotson, and Justin Park. So, man, Justin, I appreciate you coming in and chatting with us. Um, I know we've been talking about this for a couple of months now, and I know there's a lot of excited people. So, man, just tell me a little bit, um, you know, tell us a little bit about who you are, um, your story. I know you graduated here last year, now back on staff uh with Coach Jones. I should say, I guess, two seasons ago. Yeah. Since season just ended. So man, I hey, you're telling me I'm I feel like I was just in college playing ball. Now I'm married and got a kid, and so it's just like time goes by quick. Like that. It's crazy. Right?

Justin Park’s Background And Mindset

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Tell me, tell me a little bit about yourself, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Right. So I'm from uh Birmingham, Alabama. So, you know, uh big city kid, you know what I'm saying? Uh, you know, I have a GOAT farm, you know, okay. City, but you know, a little bit of country there, you know. I obviously both my parents are in my life, you know, very supportive of me all throughout my years, you know. You know, it came to every game, especially going through my uh high school years to college, you know, they try not to miss a game. If they miss one, they watch me on TV, spying me out instantly. So, you know, um, you know, very humble person, you know what I'm saying? Feel like I can get along, you know, with anybody, but you know, hold myself and others around me accountable. You know, that's what kind of got me all the respect I ever got in my life, you know, is just holding other people accountable. And anybody going through something they know they can come to me, you know what I'm saying, you know, and I'm gonna cut it to them straight. So yeah. I think, you know, I feel like in my life, you know, I've always tried to be hard the most hardest working person in the room. You know, I feel like I'm not the smartest, but you know, if I work the hardest, you know, it's gonna put me over the top of the smartest person, you know what I'm saying? So I got a hardworking mindset, you know. I love football. You know, I grew up, didn't start playing football in seventh grade, but uh, you know, played it, you know, played it at a high level, you know, obviously made it here, you know, you know, had a very successful career here, you know, for four years. So now, you know, just trying to, you know, coach. Now I'm in the coaching ranks, now I'm trying to, you know, have players learn from my mistakes in the past, you know, and try to, you know, capitalize, coach them on every little detail, whereas film study, you know, just maybe a small detail like tackling, you know, eye discipline, you know, things like that. So that's just something.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah, I had a chat with Matt Stoles already this morning, um, who, you know, calls all the games, and he was telling me a little bit about us, you know, telling him that you're gonna be the host of this kind of peer-to-peer conversation we're doing. And he was like, man, like, you know, it's one of the things like Justin's the perfect guy for it. He's like one of the things I love about Coach Jones is like you came in as a freshman and you weren't even starting on defense yet, and you were already like within weeks, special teams captain, like already right off the bat. So, you know, it's a cool, there's a cool dynamic there. Like you said, always being that hardest working person in the room. It always shows up. Like people can see that. I mean, it's it's one of those things. I never was the most talented one ever, um, but I always worked as hard as I could, man. And a lot of times hard work beats talent, you know, talent that doesn't work. Hard work beats talent that doesn't work. Right. So, you know, that hardworking mentality is, you know, having met Coach Jones several times now, he seems like that kind of person that like that's what he wants in a player, like somebody who's gonna work hard for what it is. Because if you don't have that mentality, man, it's not gonna take you. I mean, you can still go far, but you can excel so much more if you're willing to work.

Choosing Arkansas State During COVID

SPEAKER_00 3:19

So tell me a little bit about what it's like playing for coach and what led you, I mean, what led you here to choose Arkansas State?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah, so obviously I was getting recruited by uh, you know, the last coach I was here, Coach Anderson. You know, he recruited me pretty heavily. My recruitment was a little different than most, you know. You went through the COVID phase. So Arkansas State was the last place I ever got to visit on an uh unofficial visit during uh March of 2020. Then, you know, everybody got the email on their phone. Like my school closed down for two weeks, two weeks turned into two months, then it turned into a whole year, so everything is pretty much just shut down. It's crazy times, man. But uh I kind of always knew what Coach Jones was about. You know, I was a big Bama fan growing up, but uh Bama played Tennessee every third Saturday in October, so gotta see what Coach Jones was about. You know, I always thought he was a good coach, and I knew he got fired and ended up going to Alabama, you know, and then Anderson left, you know. So I had decommitted initially because I committed Arkansas State in June of 2020. And then, you know, because we wanted to get the recruitment out the way, we wanted to have a home, the uncertainty of COVID. And um, you know, Anderson left, and you know, they said they were hiring Coach Jones. So then, you know, he called me, you know, I recommitted, obviously, and then, you know, came back played for him. You know, first year was kind of rough. You know, we went through the little, you know, hard stages of having a new coach, new culture, you know what I'm saying. You know, then year two, you know, we building, you know, still didn't get where we wanted to, you know, then year three we made a big step, you know, beat some teams that, you know, beat the mess out of us. The first two years was here. So that was exciting. Then that my final year just like pushing us, you know, we wasn't the most talented team, but you know, we were such player-led, you know, we won a lot of games we shouldn't have won. And then, you know, we just, you know, we finally got back to that bowl game, you know, win, you know. So I feel like for the first time in like what five years, six years. So that was like, you know, a big thing. He sets a culture every day. He's gonna push you. You know, leadership, he always tells me, him and uh Coach Simpson, former coach here, they always just tell me leadership is hard. You know, everybody, when you're a leader, everybody looking at you, you know, especially if you're doing something wrong, you know what I'm saying? They're waiting to find something wrong that you're doing. So you always gotta try to always be right, you know what I'm saying? And you gotta do what's unpopular to some, you know what I'm saying, to benefit the majority. Yeah, absolutely.

From Player To Staff Coach

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Tell me, real quick, that transition from wrapping up your playing career to getting into getting on the coaching staff. What was that translation transition like? How did it happen? Coach reach out to you, say, hey, here's what I'm thinking. How's that been going for you?

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Thank I went to the uh, so I was originally coaching at my high school. Uh Gardner High School in Alabama. I was coaching there, you know, and I was working a job, obviously. You know, I did the pro day training or whatever, then wasn't good enough to make it, you know, but it was all good because I already knew I was gonna be coached, you know what I'm saying? So I was coaching in my high school, then I drove up to the Arkansas game, you know, I was on the side line, you know. Then I guess, you know, everybody just like missed my presence, you know what I'm saying? Like the impact I had on that team, you know what I'm saying? So they decided to let me come back in a uh player development role. So just doing all the community service since I'm invested in the community. Yeah. So they had me doing a lot of their community service things of that nature, and then also coaching defense, you know, Coach McCarley, me and him close, you know what I'm saying. He coached me my senior year that, you know, I was like one of the easy guys. He's out. He said this, not me saying he said I was his favorite player to hear with coach. So there you go. Uh think it's just the accountability, like I said earlier, accountability, display, you know, leadership that I brought, then just the tools and like intangibles of, you know, the way how smart I am, the way I think on the field. So he brought me back and kind of pouring, it allowed me to pour into these guys. You know, we weren't when I got here, we weren't very good at one and four this past year year. They just happened one and four, then made a big turnaround. That wasn't really like because I had me, like, yes, they had a little something like helping with film study, you know what I'm saying? It I really just, you know, the guys did it. You know, the guys just took what I was telling them on defensively, taking what I'm telling them, and then just applying it was extra film study because they all had the ability, all had the tools. You know, they're probably more talented team than we were when I was playing here. It's just they didn't wasn't as connected as you needed a team to be. And by allowing somebody that's been there, don't done that, you know, alumni know it all, coach wants, you know what I'm saying? What takes play good defense and what the things you do that not gonna lead to playing good defense, just try to apply those tools to those guys, and they made a I made a crazy turnaround at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah, I mean, went on to win a bowl game, Xbox Bowl, beating Missouri State. Um, man, it's cool. Yeah, I mean it's following that path once we started talking. I, you know, I just I live in the northwest part of the state. I've been over here, you know, a couple times back a few decades ago, but you know, just understanding a little bit more about the the program that's happening here and taking a tour of that football facility, which blew away all the expectations I've had. Oh, yeah, um, was you know phenomenal. I know we'll get into that a little bit, but man, it's just seeing the things that's happening around the community, the campus, this town, around how everything's kind of exploding and growing up.

What The Show Will Reveal

SPEAKER_00 8:23

And there's more opportunities, there's more students every year. Like there's just so much going on. Um, so I'm super excited for you to be leading this show. You know, inside the den's gonna be cool. You know, we're gonna be talking NIL, we're gonna be talking student culture, things like that. Tell us a little bit more uh about what you're excited about, the the podcast show you got going on.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

I'm just excited, man, for everybody to see, you know, what A State's really about. You know, everybody has this conception, you know, outside of like what goes on in a student athlete's night's uh student athlete's life, but I feel like you're really gonna get a deep, you know, inside dive of what they go through on a day-to-day basis, where that's class schedules, you know what I'm saying, being a student first then an athlete, you know what I'm saying, waking up at what 7:50 if you got it, well, really 7:30 if you got an eight o'clock class, having class to like two o'clock, then having to be an athlete, but also having to be a student of the game. So you constantly learning all day around, got to go through the many stresses of life, not being around your family, you know what I'm saying. Then really the beneficial things about college as well, by building those lifelong friendships, you know, relationships, you know, whatever aspect of life, you know, walks of life you come from, you just all combine together. A lot of these guys are the best player at their high school. Now you're getting constant competition. So it's just giving you a deep dive of what goes into college athletics and specifically Arkansas State athletics and the benefits that come with being here, you know,

NIL Reality And Daily Life

SPEAKER_01 9:41

lifelong friendship that you make.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, absolutely. So um, I know, like I said, we'll talk a little bit of uh NIL in these conversations too. I mean, there's a I think a common misconception a lot of times with NIL. It's, you know, I've always been a student athlete, so I'm always like, yeah, pay players. Like when people realize the amount of work, I played smaller college ball, and man, even a smaller college ball, it's like, you know, we may have in season, we may have film at 6 30 in the morning, then you got class, then you got practice at the end of the day, then you got to go to team dinner sometimes, then you may have more film, then you got to go back and do homework. And it's like it's way harder than just being a student, you know. And then there's nothing not saying that in any particular way, but it's just it's a different thing, and it's uh it takes a lot of time and work, and you get to a point where you know there's a lot of money coming the door because of some of these athletic programs, and so help being able to pay those players, I think, is a huge thing. Um, so like, real quick, let me grab like your perspective on what NIL is. Like, in my belief is is, you know, with what NIL actually is, there's so much more that actually goes on with it that people don't think of. They just think, oh, well, these players are getting money, yada, yada. But like, how much it actually helps them and helps their families. Like, tell me a little bit about your perspective on that from an IL basis.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah, I think you, you know, you can't ask really no nobody better, to be honest with you. I went through basically both phases of it. I went through the old school, now I'm the new school. I was two years old school, two years new school. So I could really give you a good, like, detailed thing about that. So, you know, first two years, you know, you're living off this amount of money that you're gonna get every month and a half. So then, like, it's not really a lot, you know, saying you got to buy groceries. So it really, like athletes, we're gonna burn a lot of calories, burn a lot of weight off. So you need food to replenish that, you know what I'm saying? So caviteer has some hours, you know, and then you know, the quality, like you need the hours that you can get to eat are what you need all the time, especially for a weight-gain guy like myself. I need to gain weight, so I know I had to go home and cook, but you gotta buy groceries, and then boom, I gotta drive to a facility every day. You can also walk. Some guys live off campus, so you gotta drive every day, so you gotta pay for gas, you know. You got it's just NIL really helps out guys. You know, you can buy food, you know what I'm saying? You can buy anything that you need, you know what I'm saying? Like you can do, you can have fun outside of football to so you can truly build those connections. You gotta do a little things outside of football, like, hey, let's go bowling, let's do things like this. So, like, you know, NIL really help helps because to see like what athletes have done for the game, you know, how much money they bring into institutions by jersey sales, things like that. It feels like, you know, if the athletes truly deserve to get a percentage of that as well of the jersey sale, things like that, marketing, you know what I'm saying? Because we're we're you know, showing our brand through through the university, you know what I'm saying, bringing money, revenue, all that jersey sales, like I was saying, it's like NIO really benefits the money we get, really helps us, you know what I'm saying, survive on a day-to-day basis.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

So yeah. Well, man, I appreciate you coming in and taking the time

What To Expect From Future Guests

SPEAKER_00 12:43

chatting with me. I know you got a lot of episodes gonna be coming soon. Oh, yeah. Um, so man, just if there's anything you could leave people with as we kind of leave here today, um, just tell them exactly what they can expect from that show, you know, what you're planning to do, kind of maybe not individuals who you're planning to talk with, but types of people you're looking to talk with. Just give them one last thing to kind of look forward to.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah, I just want y'all to know, man, we're gonna have some really, really good people in here. You know, how some athletes that be out in the community doing community service, service in our community, and just hear some stories that you wouldn't think that we'll go through on a day-to-day basis from a running back that's having 200 yards a game, but you don't know what he's going through in this life, how he overcome things, having players losing family and still showing up to the building, playing at a high level, practicing every day on a day-to-day basis. So I feel like you um really gonna get a deep down look into the program, into the university, and how much this university benefits us. And yeah, I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

So it's gonna be good. Well, man, Justin, I appreciate you coming in and chatting with me, man. We'll uh we'll look forward to you being here next time with a room full of guys chatting about the program. Oh, yeah. All right, baby.