332. Coach Cody Moore: Be Real & Control The Controllable: How Coach Moore is Building Leadership at Round Rock High

Hey, everyone. My name is Colton, and I'm the host of the Coach 360 podcast. Here, our goal is to come alongside and equip coaches with the resources to help develop character through sports and raise up the next generation of leaders. Not only do we do that through this podcast and interviewing coaches from across the nation about character, culture, and leadership, but we also do it through our two words character development curriculums. If you want to learn more about these or anything else that we offer, visit our website, 2words.tv. That's the number 2 words.tv. Or you can always drop me an email, colton at 2words.tv. Thanks for listening today. Let's get into the show. PMX Pro Maxima is your one-stop shop for the ultimate fitness equipment solution. Are you ready to take your workouts to the next level? With their state-of-the-art equipment, you can achieve your fitness goals faster and more effectively. From strength to cardio, they manufacture a wide range of high quality products made in the USA to maximize your performance. Experience the difference with PMX Pro Maxima and see why thousands of athletes and fitness enthusiasts trust them. Visit ProMaxima.com today to explore their catalog and elevate your fitness journey. Coach Mackey and I have personally gotten the opportunity to train with their equipment in our home gyms. Many of you know of our strongman and powerlifting backgrounds. From big bench presses and deadlifts, we have spent thousands of hours under a barbell and can personally tell you PMX Pro Maxima is one of the best manufacturers of strength equipment we have put our chalked up hands on. And they're made right here in the great state of Texas. PMX Pro Maxima. Find your strength from within. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the coach 360 podcast today. I'm hanging out with coach Cody Moore. He is the athletic coordinator and head football coach. At Round Rock High School. He also has with him Coach Jordan Gesh, his assistant football coach. Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having us, Colton. Absolutely. Hey, coach, you know, Mackey was out on site with you guys just a few weeks ago. And man, he, he just sang y'all's praises at what you are doing over there at Round Rock. He said you're doing culture as good as anyone that he's seen across the state. Uh, maybe let's kick off this podcast and why don't you guys tell us a little bit more about why culture and character building is so important to y'all. Um, I mean, pretty much in a nutshell, man, is we know there's, there's a life outside of football and beyond football. And, um, we really do use it as a tool or like a, a mechanism to just teach our, our guys to be, you know, men one day, you know, so hopefully we can implement some things and, and teach them about life kind of. Let them in on some of the mistakes that we made as as teenagers and hopefully they don't make those same mistakes, but just got a little history about me like it was a big time identity thing for me getting done playing college football. And uh, like I know myself outside of being a football player. And so, um, it took me a while to kind of figure that out. Um, and I just want them to understand that. You know, football's great and it teaches a lot of great lessons, but there is, there's things outside of football and, but football just happens to be probably one of the best tools to teach life lessons. Yeah. Yeah. Coach, I can, I can relate to that. And I, I really like the, the shift that we're seeing, um. Across the state, at least where coaches are emphasizing that the sport that their student athletes are playing doesn't Does not have to equate to their full identity that there's so much more to who they are than just the sport they're playing. Uh, You, myself, and so many others that we hear this time and time again, they get wrapped up in that sport and their success in life is, is determined on what they do on the field or on the court. And we just know that that that's not true. It's just a small portion of who they are, that there's so much more to life beyond that, beyond the sport. Yeah. And we also wanted to just make sure, you know, we're not just teaching the lessons to the guys that are helping us in the field too. Like we want every kid that's a part of our program to get to benefit Uh, and uh, from some of the lessons that we teach, you know what I mean? Um, we have so many football players here at Roundup High School. You know, we have 325 kids playing football and, you know, eleven of them get to play. You know what I mean? So, um, it's not about What they can do for us in the field, but it's what we can do and serve them and teach them some life lessons. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to dive into kind of how the ways, how, how in which the ways you guys implement teaching those life lessons here in just a moment. Uh, but first I want to start off, you know, last year you guys had a ton of talent on the field. I mean, you guys had multiple D one. Level players so much. So you had a guy go from round rock high school and the kids starting at Notre Dame this year. I mean, that's phenomenal achievement. That's a heck of a. Kid, tons of talent. Uh, last year you guys went four and seven. So you got some wins in there. We've all had seasons like that, but probably not exactly what you were looking for when you saw the talent you had on the field. This year, you guys are eight and one. I'm sure you still got plenty of talent, but I'd love to know what was what shifted from you for you guys going from last year to this year and seeing that success on the field. I mean, first things first, man, it was like a A self-reflective thing, you know, like look at myself in the mirror and going back to why do I do this? And so after my first year ever being a head coach and I just, you know, full transparency, I got caught up in what wins and losses were and how, like what people are thinking of me because of this talented team only going four and seven. Like talk about having to sit down and kind of get your thoughts a little bit. Um, that's the first things first. So, you know, Christmas break, it was me in the mirror. You know what I mean? I had to make sure I was right. Um, and then. But also having a coach like Coach Gash in my corner and me and him having the ability to sit in my office and having those same conversations I was having in the mirror with him. And him asking me, so why are we doing this? And so that goes, that goes to the core of what we do. I mean, we do this because we love kids. We do this because we want to serve. Um, we like to, We like to say that this is kind of our ministry. We want to make sure the next generation of, of, uh, of men are going to be good men. And so, um, just first things first, uh, I had to, you know, figure out. What do I need to do better? Right. Um, and he can add some more to this, but we felt like it was. It was, it almost became. It became more of a sport or a game. It became more of a dread to come to practice, right? And a lot of it has to do with success, obviously, and how we're doing the record and all that kind of stuff, but we wanted to make it way more than that. And, um, so we just kind of gotten, you know, got on the board, start drawing some things up, trying to figure out ways that like our kids just want to be so hungry and so excited to come to practice, want to be so hungry and so excited to go play games, want to be So hungry and so excited to go serve our community. And um, so I don't know, Coach Guess could probably add some more to that. Yeah, a big part of the process was obviously that self-reflective piece for everybody. I think Um, Coach Moore did a really great job coming out of that year and saying, you know, what can I do better than challenged us as, um, as the rest of the coaching staff to do that as well. And one of the big things that we did is Coach Moore and I sat down and, Drafted, you know, for your plan, like what, what does the long term look like? What are the ultimate goals? Um, and very little of that was about winning games, obviously. Um, that's a symptom, but the, the reality was, you know, how do we, how do we make these kids in the great men and, uh, wanting to play for each other, wanting to do things. Out of the ordinary. And one of our big focuses that we spent a lot of time on is our first pillar, which is brotherhood. We spent an entire semester just talking about um, how to be a A great member of the brotherhood, which is what we call our group of guys. So it was really focusing on the focusing on finding out what is the priority? Uh, what are the priorities? And then just really digging in deeper to being intentional about uh, making that the main thing. Coach, what I love about what you guys just shared with us is you started with the men in the mirror. Uh, you started, you know, there's, it's so easy, so quick, so natural to say, uh, Well, if this had gone that way for us, or if all these outside factors, if the kids had done this, or if, you know, we had more support from XYZ community administration or so on and so forth. It's so easy for us when we have a challenging season and we're not seeing what we want to on the scoreboard to start pointing fingers or pointing blame. And we know that when we do that, there's. Like we lose control. Like we, we don't have, we can't fix those things. We can't influence those outside factors. But when we start with the things we do have control over, i.e. ourselves, our attitude, our effort, our, what we have control over. Um, that gives us that power to change things, to make a difference. And I love that that is where you started instead of. Pointing fingers or associating blame or anything like that. You said, no, no, no. What can we do better and coach more? It sounds like you modeled that really beautifully for your staff where you felt you looked at yourself first and then you asked everybody. To do the same thing internally. And then you pulled in accountability with Coach Gesh. And Coach Gesh, you shared with him, hey, here's where I think you're right. Here's where I think you're wrong. Here's some thoughts. And like, you had somebody, a sounding board. To vet out those thoughts and those feelings and you started with what you had control over and what mattered most. I really like how you guys did that. Yeah. Another thing I really appreciated in what you guys just shared is you, you went back to ground level and said, Hey, how do we make this fun for our athletes? How do we start making them, how do we get them excited to come to practice, get excited to serve in the community? And I think those couple items right there are just really fun fundamental. So really all of us maybe taking, you know, some self analysis after a season at any point in time, what do we have control over? What can we influence? What can we change about the way we are doing things? And how do we get down to the things that matter most, right? Raising up these kids, helping them have fun, reminding them that this is a gift, that this is a privilege to play this sport, and it should be really fun that we get to do it. Coach, you mentioned brotherhood as, uh, your first pillar. Can you tell me more about what pillars, what are pillars to you guys? What are those? How many do you have? Um, what are they specifically? So about Seven or eight years ago, um, you know, my previous boss, uh, coach Jeff Cheatham, he's our athletic director here at Runoff ISD, um, created an acronym, um, Called Be Real, B-R-E-A-L. And just the sense of the word, or just like the acronym itself, like just being real in general, what caught my eye, like. Just being real, being authentic, being yourself, that kind of thing is really cool to me. But when you break down the acronym itself, it means brotherhood. The RE means relentless effort. And then the AL means above the line. And that's that's what we live by. And it's not just on the field. It does have on the field principles. You know, I'm gonna play for my brother. You know, I'm gonna do everything I can. To get in this foxhole and put our backs against the wall and we're gonna do whatever we can to help each other out, right? That's, that's, that's really easy on the field. But how do I represent the brotherhood and the public? Like, how do I, um, how do I Control my behavior and how do I act to where I am not ever going to put a blemish on the brother brotherhood. Right. So that's one way. And then, um, relentless effort. I mean, I'm gonna get a relentless effort in everything that I do, um, whether it's studying, whether it's at my job, whether it's relentlessly giving effort at the dinner table with my family. Um, whatever it may be, but also, too, on the field, um, you know, I want to play with one separate, um, and we all also use it, uh, um, The number's four to six. And that means, uh, you know, average football play is four to six seconds. So you'll see a lot of our stuff say four to six around. Um, and then, um, and then above the line behavior and coach does a really good job actually, uh, Describing this better than I do, so he could probably do that one. Yeah, I think, like, the most important thing to understand about all three of those things is that it was really important that all of those be a choice. Like you choose to participate in the brotherhood and the brother chooses you. Um, you have a choice all the time to give relentless effort or not. And then being above line is 100% a choice and that that. Phrase above the line, you know, comes from there's a book of the same name by urban Meyer, but it goes all the way back. It's like the, there's another book called the fifteen um, fifteen something conscious leadership. It's like a leadership principle from business. Uh, and then basically what they explain is, is there's this line and you're either above the line doing positive things that are Making progress or below the line doing negative things that are hindering that progress. And that's just a really simple image that you can apply to basically any setting and the hardest part about. The line is understanding that the line moves obviously, um, throughout, you know, seasons and. Seasons of life and seasons of football and all those things, but also that the goal is not to stay above the line all the time because that perfection is, you know, virtually impossible. But it's about identifying where you're at on the on the scale and saying, hey, like, you know, I'm below the line right now. What can I do to course correct here? I guess sometimes, you know, we talk about. Like the analogy of boiling a frog. Like if you just throw the frog in the really, really hot water, obviously that's easy to force correct. You just jump right out. It's when we're just a little bit below the line and we're really hindering our progress that that kind of goes unnoticed and That becomes the norm and pushes our line down. So we try to teach kids like the more you can stay above the line and push your line up and move your standard in a positive direction. The harder it gets to stay above the line because you're holding yourself to a higher standard, but over the course of life, then that's what keeps us from the really low lows and the inability to bounce back. Yeah. I love, I love the above the line and below the line analogy. Um, I've, I've heard this before and we've, we actually use it quite frequently here at 2W within our internal team. Uh, when we hear someone or experience someone, uh, maybe with a, you know, a, uh, you know, they're down because of a problem, a challenge or whatever. And their response is just kind of negative. We, we tend to try to use it as a tool to help course correct them. Do you see a lot of your athletes and your coaches, do you guys use that as like an accountability metric as well to help kind of say. Hey man, you're, that's on like below the line response to me and help kind of course correct them or remind them, give them that gentle nudge to get them back above the line. Yeah, always. It's always, it's always a check. It's always something that in our coach's office, on the field, In the hallways. I mean, and we even got some of our teachers in our, in our, our principal on it. Like if he sees one of our dudes and all he has to do is say above the line and those dudes check really quick. Let's go. I love it. I love those very just simple phrases that are such, I think we call them pocket phrases here at Two Words, where it's, hey, it's a simple phrase that we can equip All of our students, all of our coaches, our, you know, anybody in our, in our team, our system, our community, we can equip them with this simple pocket phrase for a quick course correction. And we all know what it means. We can all align to that and no one takes it. It's not like a, you know, it's not a, it's not a mean or an offensive call out. It's just a quick, Hey man, I love you. So I'm gonna give you a heads up. Uh, we gotta, we gotta get above the line, you know, kind of thing. Those are really powerful. Every coach wants a player led team, but how do you build a player led team? That's the question that led to the creation of the captain's course, a ten week customizable leadership development course for student athletes. The captain's course will equip student athletes to lead their teammates, Promote the growth of leadership skills, create alignment on your core values from coach to athlete, and help build player-led teams. Learn more at www.2words.tv slash captainscourse. So why don't you guys tell me a little bit more about how you get your student athletes to, to buy into these pillars? Do you go through any sort of. You know, cultural training. I know you guys are using the two words curriculum there. Um, what are some other ways where you get your student athletes to, uh, engage in these pillars and, and participate? Um, it's one thing to just to share them, right? A lot of coaches will also say, hey, we model them. And, but beyond that, what are the equipping ways that you guys, uh, Have to get your student athletes to buy into these. Well, I'll just, I'll just kind of like the. The beginning stages of it, um, I'll, I'll speak a little bit to that and then I'll let Coach Gask a little bit more into the actual curriculum that we built, um, for the spring. But, um, when Coach Guest and I were sitting after the season and just talking about, like, what does our program need? What does our program, um, Like, what are some things that we need to start talking about right now? That's going to help our group next year, you know? And the biggest thing is, is we wanted our kids to do everything they could to help their brother out like we felt like there's a little sense of entitlement slash selfishness and that kind of thing from our previous team and we wanted to like completely get that out of them you know what i mean like i want their i want their first response to always be how do i help rather than what is to help me and so um once i told coach guess that obviously He sat down and got after it and he, he built a whole like twelve week program about breaking down the word brotherhood into an acronym. And so every week, um, he'll talk more about this, but every week we had Questions that went along with it. And honestly, it was, it's very similar to what y'all do for two words. And so when we started kind of implementing the two word stuff into our daily stuff this fall, Um, it was the rhythm of that was already something that we had already been doing. So, um, but he can go more into it. Yeah. So from where we started, like, I think the process is more important, uh, especially for Anybody that's kind of trying to apply this to themselves. Cause that's, that's what we did. We took like our stuff like brotherhood and how do we turn this into a message that we can just kind of repeatedly hammer and look at from. A million different perspectives. And, um, so it just took the word brotherhood and we went week by week, uh, and each, each letter became part of an acronym. And I'll be honest with you, like, it was very much a living, breathing thing. Um, one of the things that Coach Moore and I learned a long time ago is you got to figure out what people need to hear, not necessarily what you want to say. Uh, so this is kind of evolved over time based upon what, um, we felt. You know, the guys need to hear, and so the words that went along with that were belonging, respect, ownership, together, honesty, expectations, reliance, heart, Overcoming opportunity and that the Brotherhood is defining was the last one, and so we went through this whole series and and the process was. On Monday, you get kind of the big picture, just like you would with two words. Here's the, here's the message. Here's the, the big idea. Uh, and then Here's a question that you're going to be asked on Friday. So you kind of have all week to marinate on this question, just a broad, um, topic. Uh, and then we met on Wednesday in small groups. So each coach. Had a group of guys and they talked about. Something from their own personal life. So made a made a personal connection to whatever it was that week. So for example, that week one was belonging. So each coach got with their group and talked about things that they belong to other groups and organizations. And, uh, whatever that thing might be for them. And then open the floor up for that small group to kind of discuss those same things. And then we came back together at the end of the week on Friday and had that big group to sweat discussion and answered that big question. And what we found that did was. It is a transfer of ownership, right? Like, like I'm going to give you this idea. But then I'm going to guide you along until we get to the end of the week to where you can really take it and turn it into. Apply it to, um, really, you know, craft it into something that's a part of your life. Um, and so. You know, in all honesty that that blends right into exactly the format of how we use two words. And just gave us a nice, easy, clean flow. It was just really important to us that first year that it be really specific to what our needs were. How would you share with someone listening when they, when they, Hear of you building out your own curriculum of implementing that twelve week program. They also hear about you doing, uh, the two words program. Then maybe they're listening to this and there's a little bit of some, oh my gosh, like how do they, how do they make time? For implementing such an intentional character and culture program at Round Rock. What would your response be to them if they're struggling kind of piecing the idea of time management and all these things together? Well, I mean, I can go into like the, the rules of like UIL and stuff and like, there's, there's, we get an hour, you know, like we get, Time before and after school is just what you're willing to invest in really. And, um, the biggest thing is we knew how important it was, it was going to be for us to invest in our kids more than just strength and conditioning. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like we knew that we had to get our kids in the right spot mentally. And, um, and if you, if you think it's important, you're going to make time for it. You know what I mean? And we, we knew that it was going to be super valuable. And so. Um, you know, we have a, uh, just to kind of be super practical here and like talking about our schedule and everything. Um, we, we, we're a block schedule, so we have an hour and a half with our athletic period and we're in the middle of the day. And so we'll start usually around 1230 and the first however long it really would take about fifteen minutes to do something that's character building or whatever it may be. Um, after we've done attendance and everything. And so around the thirty minute, maybe, um, twenty-five minute mark, we're done with all of that stuff. And we got our kids already hustling to the, uh, to the locker room and getting dressed for off season. Um, now in season, um, it's the same thing, but we work out in the morning. And so as far as practice, and so our athletic period is about strength conditioning and it's about, uh, character building. And so we'll do some extra stuff here and there special teams wise during the class period. But a lot of it is like it's the mental part of it. Mental football and mental personal. You know what I mean? Like we're trying to get. And we just know that that time is for that time. And the biggest thing is like having a routine, having it written up, you know, like one thing that I learned from Coach Cheatham is you always work at the end of the year and work backwards. That's why I never knew that. You know, like you start from week sixteen state championship and you work backwards all the way to your first day of camp. And that's when you build, like, that's when you get all your curriculum built, that's where you get all your weight workouts built, um, and all of those things. Um, and that was a huge lesson that I learned that somebody could probably, you know, a little nugget somebody can get, you know, from the podcast, but. Um, there's little things like that, like super practical things or how we go about doing it. Do you have anything to add to that? Yeah. So there's, there's two things that we did that I think are crucial to, um, Some of our success with making this whole like character conversation where obviously like implementing the curriculum and all that is a big piece of it, but something else that we did that kind of goes unnoticed that. Uh, a lot of like old school guys would see and it's like, this is absolutely insane, but it made huge strides for us is we took the structure. Of the first ten or so minutes of the class period and got rid of it. That, you know, for, for years it was. Hustle your butt down here to football, go sit in your position groups in straight lines, and we're going to take attendance and we're going to get going. Yep. And, you know, through the year last year, we had a conversation and said, like, you know, these guys don't even know each other. They don't even, um, they don't even talk to each other. They have zero relationship outside of just go and do your job on the football field. And also like they're coming from class like this. Stress of the day, you know, like, hey, what if we just give them ten minutes just to just go like intentionally hang out and like bond and have a conversation that has nothing to do with football and or whatever, whatever they want to talk about. And just giving them a little bit of time to decompress and reset and get in the right front of mind to be able to hear what we have to tell them. I think it's crucial because it's like, wow. You're, you're adding, you're adding a real deep. Thought process into your already structured system. And so if you just expect them, you know, like a machine to just be on all the time, it's really hard to process that and they're going to tune you out. Like you got to give them a little bit of time to. Reset and then go into that deeper conversation, whether it's with a small group or, hey, I'm about to talk about, you know, this two words lesson or whatever. I think it's really important just to give them a little bit of time to just. Be with each other and develop some of that fellowship and and some of those things that we know is important because we do that in our everyday lives, you know, after school and. Um, after work and however that might be as an adult. Uh, but for those kids, they're stuck sitting at a desk every single period until they get to us. Like, what a relief. Hey, I just get to reset, do what I need to do, and now I'm ready to refocus. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's, uh, that's fascinating. Uh, coach, I just, I recall back to my time playing high school football and we had a very similar, you know, methodology where it was You know, sprint, you had to be dressed, standing in your lines and all that stuff by the time the bell rang to start the next period. And I genuinely remember like the anxiety in the class prior to athletics during the day. Of like, oh man, I got five minutes. Like I gotta, where's my, I gotta pack. Oh wait, I can't be disrespectful to the teacher. Okay. I gotta be ready to sprint out of here. Cause I gotta run full speed to get down to athletics in time and then to get dressed and get rocking and rolling. And I mean, it was literally anxiety inducing. And sure, maybe there's times and seasons where, hey, that's appropriate in certain programs that need some extra discipline or whatever. That's appropriate. That's great. I loved how, though, you guys were willing to be curious and say, hey, what if We did this differently. I know everyone else is going this direction and this is a popular thing. This is a normal thing. But what if, what if we shifted that? What if we just paused and just, you had the posture of curiosity and you just said, what if we didn't do it that way? That's phenomenal. That's incredible. Well, Coach, uh, Gesh, I've got a, I've got a question for you. I want to go back to something, uh, Coach Moore said earlier. You know, he, he said he, During that time of self-reflection as he was kind of asking some questions, um, uh, after last year's season, uh, he came to you and said, Basically came to you for accountability. Um, I'd love to hear more about you guys sound like y'all are tight knit brothers that you guys been doing this thing for a little bit while a little while together, or at least you've, you've formed a bond in which it feels that way. Coach Guest, what does accountability look like for Coach Moore in y'all's relationships? How do you support him? How do you encourage him? How do you hold him accountable? Uh, what are, for those assistant coaches that are maybe tuning into this, um, What maybe what's some advice you could share with them that they could take away from this conversation? Yeah, I think the most important thing to understand when you're approaching that is that it's a mutual relationship. You have to be open to receiving and giving, um, criticism and so that, you know, that takes trust. So I think like step one is, um, you have to trust and really Get to a point where you can say, hey, I can come in here and I can say the truth and be honest with you and it's going to be met with at least a consideration. Uh, and so I think that's important and that that's in both directions, right? That's a two way street. Um, but the, the real piece is, is no matter what happens. The next critical part of that is no matter what happens, when you walk out of the office, you're both heading in the same direction towards the same goal. Um, and that's whether it's two guys or fifty guys or whoever, you know, that, Accountability is hey i'm gonna tell you the truth and i'm gonna tell you how it is and tell you what I think and then whatever we decide moving forward is how we're going. And having that common. Common goal and common, common place to that that we're striving to achieve. Um, but as far as like what it looks like, it's just the truth. Uh, I don't, I don't really have like a. Anything profound other than. You go out every single day and you do what. You have plans and then you come back in and you evaluate, you know, did this, was this the best thing for the Brotherhood? Was there a relentless effort and were we above the line? And anytime the answer is no, then you address it and say like, Hey, I think like this Or I think this went really well. And I think it's important. A lot of people lose in the accountability world. They lose praise. They're very quick to be critical. Um, but we, we forget to. Praise the things that are going well. And that's when it becomes kind of a, um, an abrasive conversation. Uh, I think that that's a big piece as well. But I think if you can be honest with each other, if you can tell each other the truth, And just understand, like, like, I don't need to make a spectacle of it. Like, you know, everybody knows. Um, that whenever we walked up, walk out of this office that we're all on the same page and we're all heading the same, same way. And it's never a. It's always about what's best for us and what's best for the kids. Uh, and so that's where it comes from. And I mean, I had to make sure I add this, but like, there has to be like some sort of sense of. It's like checking your product at the door as well. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, you can't be the head coach and say, hey, I'm the head coach is how it goes. Like, you've got to be able to really be willing to, especially when you have named somebody the assistant head coach. Like that title, like that's not a title for me. That's a position. That's something that like I hang my hat on. And so if I, if, if I'm, um, leaning on him, I can't sit here with like this prideful, like, you know, Wall built up that I'm not going to sit here and hear anything that he has to say. So, I mean, for the head coaches out there, like you got to have a guy to lean on because it's lonely up here at the top. You know what I mean? Like it's lonely. And if you don't have anybody to talk to, Um, or anybody to bounce ideas off of that is willing to listen and tell you the truth. Like, no, dude, that's dumb. Like, that's a waste of time. Like, then you need to kind of figure out a way to get somebody like that in the corner. Yeah, right on. Well, I will add this, though. It's really important. And we talked to Mackey about this the other day. It's really important that you start with yes. Like, don't, don't be the, as the assistant, don't be the naysayer. Like, The really intentional about saying yes to ideas and the creativity that comes through it and then find a way to make it work. And then when it doesn't adjust. Uh, it's important that, you know, you're not rigid as well. Yeah. Coach Gash, how do you, how do you, how would you encourage people to start with yes and still provide feedback or, you know, Hey, coach, um, uh, you know, coach Moore, um, I'm all in. I see what you're trying to do there. I have a thought though. Like, how would you encourage them to balance that? And you, you spoke to it earlier, that kind of balance of Not just being a yes man and also not being the so it's like you've got extreme praise on one side and then you've got, you know, Like a lack of account or maybe too rigid or too pushy on the other side or too much pushback. It's like, how would you advise assistant coaches to kind of balance that out? That is 100% about your personal perspective. Whenever, whenever you start with yes, the whole point is you're looking for solutions to the problems, not problems to point out like don't, don't, um, don't bring. Don't bring problems to the table without a solution. Yeah. Don't tell me what we can't do. Tell me what we can do. Cause we get caught in that negative cycle. That's, that's, uh, That's comfortable for us hey I don't want to make this change and here's all the reason that we can't do it because it's a comfortable thing it's more like Okay, yes, we can do that, and here's a problem, but here's a possible solution. But that comes with the, that comes with the reality of if you encounter a problem that is against your pillars, against what you're trying to accomplish, that's when you get away And that's the stopping point. That's the period on the sentence. Hey, I like this idea, but this directly goes against the brotherhood. Then we're done. Anytime, anytime you start crossing paths with the pillars, then you get out of there. Uh, so that gives you a, but it gives you a place to stop, if that makes sense. Yeah. If you, if you, if you hold up to that, it actually, alleviates so much stress because if it doesn't fall in line with any of your pillars and it's already in done with then you're going to spend and we have a five minute rule here in the office if we spend more time And that goes for calling offense, calling defense, or even an idea for offseason. It doesn't matter. If we're sitting there and it's more than five minutes, then we spend way too much time. You know what I mean? But now, as far as ideas go, right? Um, well, we don't, we're, we're like, we try to have this whole sense of efficiency around our office. And so we don't, we don't like to chase rabbit trails. And so if it's something that is not going to, You know, benefit us, you know, if we develop this stuff, then move on. If it doesn't align with our pillars, move on and let's invest in the things that we think are the most important and what the kids need to hear. Yeah. I love it. Well, both of y'all coaches, I just want to thank you so much for your time. I've got one more question for us and I'll let you guys kind of decide. I'd love to hear from both of you. I'll let y'all decide who would like to answer first. Um, but my question for y'all as we kind of bump up against our time and we prepare to part ways is what do coaches in 2024 and 2025 need to hear or know most of all right now? They just need to know that they're fighting a good fight and they're doing it for the right reasons. And if you have that mentality going to work every single day and you know it's not about the paycheck, it's not about the wins, it's about growing the next generation of men, then they're going to find value in their job every day. Yeah, I'll just piggyback off that. I think the thing that we all have to fundamentally understand is it's never been harder to be a kid than it is right now. And so the one thing I tell people every day is just love kids, whatever. Whatever that requires of you, whatever, you know, that might be teaching them technique, that might be, you know, grabbing them by the neck and just giving them some encouragement, whatever that looks like, just go love kids and you'll never be wrong. Awesome. Well, thank you both for your time. Uh, truly enjoyed our conversation today. It was a phenomenal and, uh, just so very much appreciate what you guys are doing for your student athletes and your community out there in Round Rock. If our listeners want to connect with you, maybe they heard something that, um, you know, really stood out to them. They want to pick your brain a little bit more on it. Uh, would there be a way for them to reach out to you maybe via email or something like that? We can share those things in the, in the, in the show notes if you'd like. Um, but would that be all right with y'all and what would be the best way for them to contact you? Email's the best. Email's the best. And we're, and we're, like I said, we're more than willing to do any of those things with, People want to reach out and ask questions or whatever. Like we're, we're all about that stuff. Awesome. Well, thank you both for your time today. Thank you. Thank you. Hey guys, one last note before you head off for your day. Over 1400 schools across the nation have or are using one of our curriculums. Are you ready to jump on board? If you want a turnkey program to develop character in your athletes, give us a call at 281-723-9943. We will work with you and your budget to make it as easy as possible. Thanks again for listening to the coach 360 podcast. Now let's have a good one today.