This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen.
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Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Iye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. I'm with me today is Dave Cosgrove. You know, the Pima men's soccer coach, the successful Pima men's soccer coach. And we have one behind the other mic We're in control, so we should be great today. Thanks everybody, Thank you Dave for being here.
Great to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We have guests like you know, a little sports and we're gonna talk about a lot about what you've done over the years at Pima TSA, now FC Tucson, things like that.
Are you a Native. I don't even know if you're a native.
I consider myself a native.
I moved to Tucson when I was six weeks old on my dad got a job at the UVA for forty years.
Okay, okay, six yeah, I guess you're you're okay, I'm a native now I'm thirty seven years and one is a native. We will never leave this town. Yeah, I love you so though you should. It's a great place. That's why I never left Lace. Yes, yes, Dave. Are you coming off the heels of another fantastic run at a national championship?
Where did you end up?
We lost in the national semi finals on penalty kicks to the Ventral National.
Champions Yeah, I saw, I saw it was it two to two.
Or something like that, two to two in regulation and then into pks.
You had to come back.
No, we were ahead.
Oh you're ahead. That makes it even more difficult.
Yeah.
I don't want to make you cry. I don't want to make you throw anything.
So yeah, no, you know, I've been doing it a long time and this is one of more difficult losses. And even technically it's not a loss, my record takes it as a Yeah, I guess that's how they do the pks. So we ended up twenty one and one for the r H and you know, in the national finals, the team that beat us had a much easier time, So we feel like we missed an opportunity. We were about one play away, one shot away from potentially a
third national championship. So you were up to oh, we were up to Oho in the first half, had some really good chances to go up three zero, which we felt like would be the magic number because this team has scored two goals in every game all year long. So we were looking at that number, that that third goal, and felt like we created enough chances to get it, and and and we didn't quite get there. And then
of course they came back. We knew they were going to score a goal or you know, maybe two, so you know, we were really holding for yeah, and anticipating, and we get you know, I will say the kids executed everything perfectly. I think we got a lot of things right and it just came down to one play or one kick.
So what do you tell what do you tell the kids after after that? I mean, you you have them, you've had them a years, the only lost one game or one match, and what do you tell them?
Yeah, well, this was a difficult one because you know, we returned nine of our eleven starters, so.
It was you returned or we did.
So it was a group we've had together for two years, and you know, I've been there there a long time and this is one of those groups that I'll remember.
For the rest of my life.
They were fantastic from the first day they stepped on campus to you know, even as we finish up this season this year and then even into the spring, some of them will still be with us, but a lot of moving on.
It was just a really unique, special group.
And you know, we had set real high expectations and you know, if you look at our record, we really did do well. But you know, I think I think the thing that I tried to get across to them was one is I think we prepared really well. So you know, you get to those situations sometimes where you have regrets, Well it was a referee faulter, or we didn't do something well, we didn't play well, whatever it might be. I think we prepared well. I thought the
kids really bought in for the entire year. I don't have any regrets about the way we did things. A year ago when we lost in Tucson. You know, I got caught by surprise by another team in the way they played us, and I felt I let the kids down in twenty twenty three, and you know, I was on a mission not to let that happen again. I should not have been unprepared. So the kids really bought into that. We changed a couple of things that we did.
We felt like we were prepared for every opponent, and at the end of the day, it's just one kicked in and go our way.
And you know, it's a little bit for me.
I think it may be even more difficult than those guys because their careers are just starting. But you know, I can see the end of my career coming sooner or later, and I don't know if I hope I have another chance. But you know, to have such a good group of guys and be so close, it's really been hard on me. And I guess the message I just told to them is I hope that this is the most difficult day they ever have to go through.
Is that day losing that If their life that is the most difficult day, then they've lived a really good life.
Sure of course, of course, and you've had some great success.
But before we go there in your tournament history, it probably makes it more enjoyable or more memorable in the two titles that you have because you realize, I'm sure you've realized for a long time how difficult it is to win one.
Yeah, I bet you get a lot of coaches on here whether it be when in a high school, stay titled in Arizona, or you know, pursuing national championships at different levels, whether that be club or junior college or you know, even at the University of Arizona.
It doesn't happen that often.
And you know, a friend of mine, you know, and maybe you've had them on here lately, you know, Bat Nugent, just one is you know, and you know, I was texting him after the game, and you know, just tell him that it doesn't come around that often. You need to make sure you enjoy it. You need to make sure you remember it. You know, keep the pictures, you know, keep the quotes.
Uh.
You know, I when I won my first national championship, I got a ton of emails and I've kept those and every time, you know, I get a little bit, you know, where am I going to go with my career?
Is it time to retire?
Is it time to move on?
Go back and read those emails, and it really kind of re energizes me because the reality is is only one person wins every year, and there's a lot of really good coaches and good players across the country. And we were really close this year, and you know, you know, it's just it's it's it's just you know, it's difficult. But but you when you do win it, you know, that would be my I guess my one piece of advice is make sure you celebrate it because you don't know if it's gonna happen again.
Well, it reminds me of the conversation I always had with with Josh Passner. Right, he's a freshman coming here at u A ninety six, ninety seven, they do okay or in the season, and then they win the title, and he's telling his dad, dad, we just want and look how easy is it's going to be? The rest and in Arizona has never even come you know, maybe two thousand and one to come close. But you know what I'm saying, you think that, but it doesn't work that way.
Yeah.
I think kids, you know, because they're young, they think it's always going to be that easy. It's always going to happen that way, and you know, usually takes a lot of circumstances to get there, whether it's the right players, the right coach, right, I guarantee you everybody will talk about somewhere along the line they face some adversity and things went their way. Yeah, you know, and you know there was always something that kind of you.
Know, sparked the run, sparked it.
And you know those don't happen all the time, you know, and you know it is you know, as I as I, you know, get further and further into my career, you know, those two years will always be something I remember you.
So tell me, well, you got to be lucky, you got to be good, gotta be healthy, all that, all that stuff that we talk about all the time. So in your last ten years, Uh, do you have the record in the last ten years?
I know, do you know the success? Now?
I don't know my overall win and loss record. You know, I've believed that for the sports information director or my parents.
He and my dad tracks that stuff.
But you know, the thing that we've gotten to now at PIMA is well, what does the postseason look like for you? And in the last since twenty fourteen, we've been in ten of the last eleven national championship tournaments, which means you're into the last eight or last twelve best teams in the country. And even there, we've made the national quarterfinals or better every year we've been there.
Yeah, pretty good stuff, pretty good stuff. And I guess say you probably savor the last the two titles because they don't come very often.
Are you different? Can I ask your age?
You're fifty fifty seven, fifty.
Seven, I knew you when maybe you were a five ish? Maybe are you different coaching now if I asked you this question now than you were when you were thirty.
Five, Absolutely and hopefully better. Definitely different.
Wisdom wise, yeah, you know, I think philosophy wise, yeah.
I think you know, you know, trying to you know, learn more about the game, you know. Uh, It's been something I've done over the last twenty years. But you know, when I started and I was working with your son, you know, it was a lot about intensity, about accountability and demands, and I don't know there was that much about the tactical part of it, the mental part of it, you know. And that was a good group and they probably could have been challenged a little bit better that
way from me, you know. And and and you know, I think I've learned to manage players better and to pick battles better, do you uh?
Yeah?
Which which, of course you have how many on the roster? Eighteenish?
Whatever? Uh?
Do you coach them, each individual different or all the same, you know.
I think I try to look at each player individually. I think in any team, there's gonna be kids you can call out publicly and they're okay with ye, right right, kids that need to have you put your arm around them.
You know.
I think there's general rules for everybody in terms of accountability and discipline and character. But I think, you know, you look at the player more than just you know, you put them all into one one hole, you know. I think each each player has different it's a different bag, and sometimes you just need to treat them differently. And I think I've matured in that area, knowing when to treat a kid differently, when to you know, again, hold them accountable, or when to put my arm around them.
And I think that's just something that comes with maturity and experience.
Right.
No, No, the biggest philosophy that I've heard is, you know, you got to know when to put your arm around him and no one to kick him in the buttally, not literally, but figuratively, you know, because every individual is different, right yeah, No, No, of course, before we move on, we're going to talk about our guests real quick, We're gonna have Jake Fisher on at three seventeen, our usual Friday guests, but I wanted to have him on because rich Rod took that job yesterday with West Virginia. He
paid for rich Rod. He thinks the world of rich Rod, just what you know, what he sees in him. Going back, I'll kind of tell my stories with rich Rod during that time, and then we're gonna have a kind of a workout guy, like a a fitness guy I met a couple of days ago, and wasn't really about fitness. It was about philosophy of what you and I were talking about Dave, where they he gets him to peak performance in terms of not really not really physically, but mentally.
And I'm sure you you deal with that where you have to be tough mentally as well as physically mentally to survive and to succeed.
Yeah, I think you know.
That is an area I think in athletics across the board that is being developed more and more and more time and more money and more efforts to be put into the mental side of the training. And to be honest, I look forward to him because that's something I don't think.
I'm very knowledgeable in you know, I've.
Just kind of done it through what I've seen on seeing what's been successful, and then of course you know, just through experience. But you know, no formal training in that at all.
Especially nowadays.
Well I'm sure back in our days too, what we really didn't notice it because kids are going through a lot of stuff up school of life, athletics.
They have a lot of their plate.
We all did, right, It's just different now because it's out there where the pressures to succeed from either the parents or themselves, it becomes really magnified.
Yeah, I think that in this day and age, with the social media and players having their own brand, there is a constant pressure on these kids to develop their brand, you know, and sometimes that gets lost within the team concept. So I feel in some ways I feel bad for
these kids now. Yeah, I think there's a lot of great things going on in athletics these days, you know, in terms of again this guy who does the mental training, the advancements in the physical training, the devancements in the technical the technology that helps kids train and become better players, and within America especial within you soccer, the opportunities and the different areas that they can go to and be successful is amazing.
Yeah, well we got a few minutes. Got a couple of minutes, right, Who was your biggest influence? And I know a lot of the guys that you coach with, but who was the influencer?
Yeah?
I think from a soccer perspective, there's two that really stand out in my career as a player. I played for a gentleman who coached at Tucson High but he was a local youth club coach. He came from Libya. His name was Ibrahim Abusad, and he was an old school you know. It was the you know, intensity and everything you did. You trained hard every day.
There was no days off, and that's where you got it from.
Yeah.
So you know when I was fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen nineteen, and he coached me when I was a player at Pima in nineteen eighty eight.
I mean he.
Really impacted me in a lot of different ways, you know, And you know, I think I model a lot of my behaviors after him. That was a no, he's in Atlanta. I mean he was he still kind of doing what he's doing. He became very successful engineer and soccer. He was with the Libyan national team for a while, and then he moved to the United States, and he was very good here in the youth programs in soccer and even Atlanta. I think he won a national championship with a youth club over there.
But uh, you know, he's an engineer.
He's a father, His his his his children were very good.
Soccer players as well. Then of course the other one.
And I think pretty much if you talked about soccer and Tusson, there's always gonna be one name that comes across the board.
You know, with Wolfgang whever.
You know, I basically did an internship with Wolfgang for about five six years, and that relationship has now developed for the last twenty years.
Yeah, and you know, you know, back then I got paid a.
Little bit of money when it really I should have probably been paying him money for where I was learning.
Yeah, guys, and I think you know.
Again, you probably heard that story, you know, one hundred times if you talk to soccer people in Tucson.
But yeah, you know, and what I learned a lot from wolf was.
A lot of player management, professionalism, organization.
So you know, as a coach, I think I learned a lot lot more from him.
Yeah, the god the godfather, grandfather of soccer in Tucsons, right, very, very humble guy, very He's a funny dude. You wouldn't know it, but you know when he first came here, he would you know, he used the effort a lot because that's what he heard people talking, you know, at the games. What are they saying these words? So he kind of mimicked the Americans. You don't go into games, yeah, you know.
And there's another guy who's changed, guys, you know, he just like all.
Of us, he's adapted with the times, Chruse. The one thing that hasn't changed is the job he does. In an amount of times he wins. That's been consistent for forty years now.
Right, right, No, the most successful soccer coach in the state. Yeah, I think so, most wins probably, Yeah, And I think.
He's probably in the top ten in the country.
If I guess right, right, And he's still going strong. I haven't seen him in a while. We've talked a couple of times. Let's go take the break. We'll get ahold of a Jake or he'll call us, and then we'll talk about a lot of things. Going on with football u A. He's very entrenched, so we'll talk.
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Steve Rivera, He's got his eye on the ball on Tucson's sports station, Fox Sports Sports bide.
Hey, welcome back to I'm the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, and with me today is Dave Cosdro, the PEMUM and soccer coach. Now on the phone, we have Jake Fisher, former U of A football player.
Jake, how are you?
I'm doing well?
You guys can hear me right, I'm on BLUETOOE.
You're good. You're good.
You actually never sound better, Jake, So come up with some great wisdos?
All right? Good?
Hey, So I want to talk to.
You specifically about rich Rod getting the job back in West Virginia and then we'll talk about what's going on uve. But first, I know you thought the world of rich Rod. He must be in seventh Heaven right now.
Absolutely.
I mean, I think you deserve this. He he was in purgatory for a little bit and then he ended up taking Jack State to the conference championship, and he deserves it. I mean, he's probably one of the only people in the country that you can plug into West Virginia and automatically make him better. He's got all the connections over there, and if he puts together a good stat I don't see why they couldn't run it back and start winning ten games a year.
Yeah, what did you What did you like about him the most? Because he was he was intense.
Yeah, but it was more of the conversations behind the scenes, you know when we went when Jake Smith and I went to go, you know, essentially and sign on to fight the NCAA about you know, fair pay and all these other different things. Behind the scenes, you know, he was giving us advice. You know, he said, guys, listen, you know I agree with it. Go do your thing, and we're behind you. Let me know if you guys
need anything. You know, when it came to him between the white lines, you know, he was he was a gritty football coach man. I mean he was. He was smart. He knew how to call plays, but he also knew how to work until you, you know, a point of exhaustion. But then you also knew how to push you a little bit further.
So just all in all, the dudes a winner.
Yeah, you didn't deal with him all that much because you're on the defense, or did you.
He dealt with everyone. Obviously, the offense was his, you know, that was his baby, But no, he dealt with guys on the defensive side of the ball too. I mean you during conditioning, you're out there, you know, with the strength staff and everything like that. He just shows up because he wants to see who's putting in the work.
You know, he wants to give encouragement. He likes to talk a little trash from now, you know, from here and then so again, he just always wanted to be around the practice, always wanted to be around the guys, and you can see why a lot of people have so much respect for him.
Yeah, I guess I can't remember who I spoke to, but it isn't really matter who I spoke to he talked about Oh, I know, I wanted to say. So, when you have a situation like now, like with U of A. Now you have Brent who's coaching the head coach, and you you worked for Cas Steele I think right, he was your linebacker's coach.
Yeah, coach Casteel was my linebackers.
So are you are you more there to impress him or you're closer to him obviously than rich Rod?
And how does that work?
Because players play for their assistant coaches rather than the head coach because they deal with them more often.
Yeah, well, there's a couple of different types of head coaches. You have head coaches that like to call plays, they like to be super involved in everything. Then you have coaches that are more of ceo types. Rich Rod wanted to be in the mix, right. He was there all the time, whether it's a defensive practice, offensive practice, whether we were running you know, scout stuff, whether it's seven on seven. He was in on the action and everything.
So you know, obviously, because we're in the same room with Castiel most of the time, you gravitate a little bit towards the guy that you're more familiar with the guy that you know, you're basically talking to on a daily basis. But you know, everybody wanted to play for coach rich Rod. Coach Ritrod had a very good way of getting you fired up to go and try to you know, be the you know, be a better player than you are. So again, you're gonna end up gravitating
towards your coach. But everybody wanted to play and win for Richard.
Yeah.
Well, you know because you've been on the show a few times during the season, almost every weekend, And you know I always talked about the disconnect between the coach and the players. I just didn't know. I couldn't tell you how or where. I just felt that having covered sports for a long time, I think I was correct. Given the transfer portal, how it looks right now? Your thoughts on that, And did you see what I was seeing?
Because this team had some talent. Talent doesn't get beat by more than twenty doesn't give me war thirty.
No, there are a couple of things that I saw. You know, obviously, you know who the players are. The players, the ones that you expected to show up and play, They did, even if they had a bad game. At least they were going there, you know, as hard as they possibly could. I think things started really falling apart when we started losing all those key starters. I mean we lost you know, three out of the four guys in the secondary pretty quickly. A couple of the captains
went down, obviously you saw Manu go down. And then the biggest thing, in my opinion, on the defensive side of the ball is I mean the middle of that defensive line. I mean, we had what two guys go to Texas, We had a couple of guys on the outside go to Washington, So we lost a lot of valuable depth that would have been coming back and you know that could have potentially ran it back after a ten win season. When it came to the offense, you know, I just did not like to play calling. And I'm
not calling anyone out in particular. I just I thought we looked either sluggish or disjointed, or some of those long handoffs or you know, you have guys that are meant for more of a pro style offense or whatever that. You know, you have guys that are really good in the box that like to pull, and then you're trying to do stretches. It just it just didn't really fit the type of offensive line that we had. And then you didn't have any guys that can really make plays
that are receivers with the exception of Team Max. So they're bracketing them, they're clouding them every single time, they're doubling them.
I mean, you got a free basically have a safety over the top, but that safety never went to the.
Other side of the field. He just basically knew he.
Could sit down and just watch what t Mac was doing, and you're.
Still able to do as well as he did. So again, some of it you know, effort, some of it play calling.
But then again, like to go back to rich.
Rod, if you messed up, it didn't matter if you were a senior or a freshman. He'd come get in your face and he challenged you. You know, I didn't really see a lot of that on the sidelines right now. Again, I'm not part of the locker room, but the fact of the matter is, you know, these guys are competitors. At the end of the day, you got to challenge them. You know, if they make a mistake and you just kind of let it go, they're gonna.
Make another mistake.
So that's kind of what I saw, Dave.
If you can bring me out your point of the locker room, how you know people don't still see that?
Yeah, yeah, Jake, it's good to talk to you, you know, as a coach.
You know, I think, you know a lot of people.
Don't understand how important behind the scenes stuff is. Everybody can criticize and see what's going on on the field, but you know, the locker room is really important and what you know, and I don't I don't know much about football, but I I just wonder, you know, and
I use the word handcuffed, you know. You know, the new coach is basically given a team and he's handcuffed with the way they play, with the way they did things, how they were recruited, what they were told, and he kind of has to honor that.
You know.
Do you do you think that figures into it?
And how difficult of a situation do you think that would be for a new coach?
Well, okay, so you know, with the new coach coming.
In, I understand that you're going to have some things that you want to change. This is the difference though, coach is Back when coach rich Rod took over from a team that only won four games. The sit and the roster basically got worse, and somehow we go out the next year and win eight games.
So there is really good coaching.
That can solve a lot of these issues. In the beginning of the year, coach Brennan said, we're going to fit the scheme to our players. I didn't see much of that at all either.
So as a coach, I know, and you.
Know, trust me, I understand that the locker room is a sacred place. But it's almost like when a lot of these starters went down, there was a void that needed to be filled. You know, you had a lot of these young guys trying to step in and play, and they were making a mistake at a mistake at a mistake, and you know, sometimes the head guy and you know this because sometimes the head guy's got to come down on you. And it's not to be negative.
You know, like all the best coaches I've ever had in my life, when I do something right, they'd be the first person to come over say good job. When I do something bad, they're the first person to come over and try to correct it. So I just didn't see a lot of that now again because coach Brennan's Moore, the CEO type that might be on the position coaches
or whatever, it just comes down to one thing. When that defensive backfield, when those guys went down, and it looked like half the guys didn't know what they're doing, i know, doing a keen azel of a coach. So either they're not listening, they weren't prepared, or they just you know, didn't want to play hard. That's really all there.
Is to it. Well, I'll time check in every box that you just said. So what do you what do you make in mean, Jake Fisher, I know what I make of it. What do you make of the the transfer portal defections?
Well, it just looks like a lot of the players that came back and you know, basically they said, hey, listen, it didn't work out. I'm getting offers from other schools. Just go ahead and check out our options. Now, if these guys come back, then they better get ready to work hard. I mean, you know, losing the two safeties and trading Stokes Well and Tocario essentially like all those guys played a hell of a lot, you know, for the last couple of years.
That's gonna sting.
But when it comes down to it, these guys, I know that they have connections all over the place. I know that a lot of these guys are really decent recruiters. I mean, there's no way in hell you can go to San Jose State and you know, basically get to a bowl game year after year when you have absolutely no resources and say that they're not good recruiters. It's
just one of those things. You know, I understand given them another year, maybe even two, because you know, this past year he didn't even get that first transfer portal window, so we lost a lot of guys because you know, we had a coaching change, But at the same time, you didn't get a chance to go out and get your own guys. So it's like a net loss from that standpoint. Now with these guys, let these guys bring in the ones that they've been scouting for the last year,
that they've built relationships with. You know, behind the scenes, it might be a lot, you know, a lot better than what it looks like on the surface.
We'll never know.
Just I'm hoping that they get some guys that actually fit their scheme, and I would really love to see you know, if Noah has decided to come back, I would really love to see someone that can get them out of the pocket and someone that can really utilize that kid's talents because he's got an arm. I don't
care how short he is, he's got an arm. But if your two guards are both six, you know, six or six seven, and you have basically him just sitting back there, you know, without any crazy play action, any boots or anything like that, it might be a long day for them. And then, you know, the other thing is if you're doing delayed handoffs and then you fake it and you already have three people in the backfield, that's an automatic sack. There's just a lot of things that were just looked weird.
Yeah, so you I was going to a shoo this before you brought this up. You were with stoops before you set out or whatever. And then rich Rod comes in. What was the what was the success? What was the key for that transition?
The key to the transition was get some of the you know, the knuckleheads out of the locker room. I remember that.
We did remember that.
Ye yep, we brought in a couple of transfers. At that point, you couldn't bring in twenty new people, right, So we brought in a couple of key transfers and we relied on a lot of young guys. So we had decent starters. You know, up until about the fourth or fifth game. Our defense looks good, offense looked good. And then, just like every single year, the injury bug started happening, and then we had to start playing a lot of true freshmen. So there were a lot of
high scoring games. Thankfully, we had guys like you know, Matt Scott, Kadeen Carrie. We had a really really good wide receiving corp that year because they had the score. Man Like, it was just we were literally down to like six walk Ons playing a lot of time on the defensive side of the ball towards the end of the year. So, I mean, you guys remember the Bowl game against the Vada I mean, we started out know
how many walk Ons. It was just awful. A bunch of freshmen and you know, they were basically keying on three or four people on the defensive side of the ball and letting the freshmen or these other guys basically whiff on tackles or getting you know, ran over by somebody. But it was just all disciplined, you know, stay the course. And the good thing is with a good leader, they don't flinch like rich Trod did not flinch one time. It was just basically, we're going to power through it.
And at the end of the year, I hope you guys are here and you want to go again because we're going to be better. We were. We just had a tough schedule the next year and then the year after that, even though we lost you know, a few key pieces, they ended up going to the festival. So if you know how to construct a team, you know how to lead a team, you don't flinch, you're going to do well.
Yeah, well I have one city next to me. In fact, the ones here. Loot was not that guy, but he was. He demanded respect in a different way. Maybe maybe Sean Miller was that guy in a different type of way. Stoops. I don't really don't know how he was someone. I think he was like, you know, vanilla or whatever, just there.
Skin skin gets a bad rap because of the stuff on the sideline. But he was the hell of a coach too, and he was like a mastermind on defense. Rich Rod was the mastermind on offense. They both went about it different ways, but both demanded your respect. Both were good coaches, and they both really knew how to bring in good coaching staff. Yeah right, I mean about Stoops, he lost what his brother Mark and Sonny Dykes after year one. I mean, those are two of the best recruiters,
you know, in all college football. I mean he still was able to retain you know, coach Kisch and coach Nicol and guys like that. But I mean think about, you know, the type of guys that he had that were coaching under him. I mean, that's pretty damn good.
Right, Well, he was the catch and then I could be totally wrong. The Brennan's personality. I don't know if it fits.
I mean, I've never had a coach that's that nice, right, and I hear nothing of the good things about him. But it's like I feel like, as a coach, you know, obviously you can you have the guys like Jetfish, who's a great car salesman, but he knows what the hell he's doing, and he might be you know, I don't even know what the word is. It might be a little cutthroat when he moves on the way that he did. But good coach. You know, you have guys, like I said,
like you know, rich Rot, he's got an edge. Everything that he does is for a reason. He doesn't flinch, you know, with stoops. You know, even with the sideline stuff. He knew what the hell he was doing. He knew how to build himself a staff, They knew how to go out and recruit players, and it just, you know, the wheels kind of fell off at the end there because of all the injuries and a lot of guys basically bailing at the last second. But all the coaches that I've been a part of have a little bit
of an edge. You got to be willing to get in somebody's face and really, you know, really get at after him. But also be the guy that when you have a good play, they come out and you're the first person to tell them good job. You can't always be one or the.
Other, right ro David and I will talk about this once we get off the phone with you, because that's.
Kind of it. Anything else anything else with that.
You know, I'd rather cover a good team than a bad team.
So here's hoping that they do well.
Well. We're not going to be covering any of those today. I mean, look at basketball. If they don't beat UCLA, I might jump off the wagon for this year already. I gotta figure that out. They have Wait, I'm not going to jump off completely understanding like they have way too much talent and the way that they've been playing, you know, the way they've been covering the three point.
You know, those two bigs.
You know a lot as a man. But I mean, shoot, previous is supposed to be more of a scorer of the two. And I know he's getting back from his ankle, but man, I just something's not clicking over there. I don't know if it's for roster construction or we have guys that are all new and you know, we have a freshman playing and stuff like that, or and looks like he took a step back, but I know he's trying to get these other guys comfortable in their roles.
You know.
It's like I'm like last year where he just came out firing. It looks like he's just you know, kind of picking his spots right now.
Yeah, are you gonna be there? You gotta go?
No, I'm not gonna go. I'll probably be off roading or fishing.
Okay, well, I'll text you the scores, like, give you an update every every five minutes.
Oh, I'm going to have the scores right there on the Okay, on the phone while we're out.
Okay, Well, we'll talk to you soon. Keep working for me and we'll see you soon.
Yes, sir, talk to you guys.
Thank you, Thank you, Jake, Thank you, Jake Fisher. We're got to go. We take a break to come back. I have some questions for you, Dave about kind of a lot of this on the line.
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Steve now went five to two oh four one seventy four.
Hey, welcome back to wying the ball here on Fox Sport fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivero. In with me today is Dave.
Cosgrove being a soccer coach? And one are you one doing good?
Thursday edition? Thursday edition a little bit weird? Yes, Yes, you're being tomorrow too. Yeah, I'll be back tomorrow. Thank you very much, double head this week.
So so Dave, Okay, so you heard me talk about Brenton. I think everybody knows he's just the nicest coach whatever, good guy. And I've said this a few times and you could throw this in your category two. I don't know any any I can say that with authority, any good guys who are good coaches, who are great coaches.
And I say that because there.
If you're a good coach, if you're a good coach, a good winning coach, there's there's some pos in you, there's some pain in the neck in you that you have to be you have to be that guy.
Yeah.
I think you know that you know, attention to details, what you're really talking about, and when you coach it and the players don't learn, at some point in time, you have to try a different approach to make them learn.
Okay, Okay, stop there and you can continue. Okay, So, Dave Cosgrove, I don't know, you're an intense coach, right, You're an intense coach. You you demand is not the right word, but you know, kind of like you you demand them to work hard and all that stuff Rich Rod type of thing. If tomorrow you said, Okay, I'm not going to be that guy, and you've already have kids on the team, won't they think like, what the hell what.
Happened to Dave?
Yeah?
I think I think there'd be a lot of shocked players previous And.
Would they play the same for you like they did before.
I would guess probably not, because they're used to my style.
Correct.
One of the best compliments I ever had was a former player mentioned that you know that you inspired us to be better than we thought we could.
Be, and as a coach, that's what you're asking for.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's really at the end of the day, you know, sometimes you know, especially if you're a major Division one or professional, it's measured in wins and losses. But you know, at the junior college level, the high school level, the youth level, you know, when you hear somebody say like, I'm a better person, I'm a better player because of the way you coach me, that's really probably the real reward, d'ra after sure.
So to answer my question, I don't know.
Do you know many good coaches, many good dudes who are and women who are great coaches.
Who I know a lot of people who are great people and great coaches. But I also know that they pay attention to details, and they hold players accountable. They have a strict culture of discipline and commitment, and when kids don't live up or players don't live up to that, they will find a way to reach that player and get their message across.
Or they don't play well.
That would probably be the last kind of you know, I think good coaches would try a lot of different ways to get the buy in. Yeah, but ultimately, if they don't buy in and they keep making the same mistake and they're not learning, then they can't.
Play Yeah, no, I think I think the way you explained it kind of was a little kink into my theory.
But you're probably right. And I know a lot of.
Good dudes, but they're not good coaches because you know, hey, little Johnny and Johnny, these are eighteen nineteen twenty the kind of want to be friends type of thing, and you can't be that until they're gone.
Yeah, you know, and I'll tell you this, I think you know, and we talked about this earlier. Coaching in college is a changing environment. Yeah, probably changing more now, quicker than everywhere right in front of them, right, you know, And and you know, I think you know, the coaches who are able to adapt to those changes are you know, probably doing very well and moving forward. I know there's a lot of coaches, you know that have left the game because of the changes, you know, whether it be
the transfer portal and il and so forth. You know, it just it just changes. I think the way you have to do your business and adapt. But you know, within that, you know, I think you're you got to be really careful because if you coach a kid too hard, he's gone in a year, of course. And then and then if you do that with twenty kids, everybody is all of a sudden saying this guy's a bad coach.
The culture is wrong, sure, because you know twenty kids go into the portal, but really what you're doing is trying to hold these kids accountable and teach them. And rather than them learning, they've decided to go somewhere else where they can get paid.
And maybe it's easier one you cover the team for the first year, right, covered it in a sense like me just redund to games.
You went to.
Yeah, thirty guys in the portal, what do you what do you think what's going on?
I think for most of them there are times coming down as far as like their time in college. So why not go try to make the most of it? You know most of these guys, I don't. I don't want to say this, but it's the reality that most of these guys are going more than like they're not going to be in the NFL, right, So why not go look for where the money is, Go get the opportunity while it's there.
If so, as opposed to five years ago, it wasn't so.
If you're a marginal player.
Not that they're all marginal there, they didn't play or whatever. If you can't play here and you're trying to go somewhere else, you're gonna get paid to play somewhere else when you didn't play here, I think. Yeah, So for some of those guys it's the case. But there's I think we have a good amount of of players in the portal that will get paid, that will because they have enough, They have enough to show other teams. Yes, okay, I'll buy that. I'll buy that. Some of the marginal
ones don't. Don't though, so how are you gonna pay? I think for them, they're looking just for a fresh start. I won't disagree with that, and they just don't want to start with here, Yeah, because they already know what the start looks like.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it's a good thing.
Actually, I think losing thirty players, oh okay, I think now that uh, you know, coach Brian can create his own culture with his own people, you know, and I you know, I think it's a difficult situation and inherit other people's talent, other people's personalities. Now again, I think, you know, top level coaches can probably adjust and make it work. As we've seen some coaches really do well coming into a program and doing you know, very well.
But I think more and more of the stories of the jet jet fishes where you don't win a game one year, and then you know, you get your culture in every year it gets better.
Look at the and I'll say the kid, because he is a kid up at a su you.
Know, none of the splash, none of the notoriety of when Dion came into the what was the PAC twelve back then, you know, and they didn't have a very good year. And although you know, all the talk was about Colorado and Dion and and look what he's done through the portal and he's young. He relates to the kids, and I bet you I think he had a huge you know, exodus and then a change twit you know.
So I think I think the real test for the U of a football program will be the next two years with his kids that want to be there for him, with his you know, his concepts, his philosophy, his locker room.
You know.
So I think changing it out is actually a positive, and I don't look at as a negative.
Yeah, I don't disagree with that explanation. Let me say this, he's on a short leash. Likely we may not get two more years, you might get the one.
So I'll be controversial here.
You know, I've been in Arizona my entire my entire life in Tucson, and I graduated from the u of A. My dad worked there for forty years. But you know, I, you know, I'm not sure that's fair, you know, And and I'll tell you why. And this I'm sure we'll upset alumni and probably a lot of my family members. Is people have this image of the u of A as a big time football program.
Totally controversial, baby.
You know, I you know, and I love the UV and I you know, I spent my entire college career going to the u of A football games and I still go. But you know, it's a it's not a destination program job.
It's a you know, I'm gonna get there and take the next step. You know. We saw that.
And I'll date myself here going back to what who was it who left for?
You see?
Oh, coach Smith?
Yeah, Smith, you know Larry Smith.
You know now and then we just saught with fish or not only leaving for bigger programs, but inside the same conference.
You know.
So the UVE is not a destination job. And The fact is, if you know coach Brennan does a great job, he's gonna go somewhere else.
You would think that, you would think, No, No, you're exactly You're saying exactly the same thing I am. Hey, I think I'm Brad Pitt. I'm not Brad Pitt, you know, because you think more of yourself than you really are. No, I've lived it, I've written about it for thirty seven years, No question, you have to find a special individual, and
specialist probably not the word. Luke decided to stay here and look what he created because he could have easily left, and he didn't, and that's what turned into the Arizona basketball Right. It takes that guy to say, okay, no, rich Rod Rich Rod did fairly well here, but once he did really well, he was already kind of looking to go somewhere else, and that kind of fell apart and then the rest of its history.
So, yeah, lut made the UFA basketball program a destination, some job, right, that's where somebody will come coach for you know, the rest of their career and retire. You know, you know, I would argue Arizona softball is probably the same way. Sure, you know, but outside of those sports. I think it's it's a kind of a stepping stone program, you know, and and you know, uh.
And then when you find it, Dick Tomy, that's rare.
And of course that's rare anywhere you know, you know, and you see it all across the country.
All these coaches are moving.
I mean, you know, we lost Judd Fish because you know, uh the boor lost in a national championship game. He had everything going his way up in Seattle and he still took another step up.
Sure, sure, no, Yeah, who's gonna who's gonna turn that one down? And the Dominoes felt And we're in Tucson. It's not a whole it's not a wealthy little town. It's not a wealthy big town. It's just it is cozy, nice Tucson. Uh so with you. In fact, somebody sent me a note here. Uh you're kind of the Ludolson of soccer here. Uh, you've been here forever, You've been very successful. You want two national titles. You talked about your your your your at your access in the in
the tournaments. Uh, who's gonna who's gonna field the Dave Cosgrove shoes?
Once once you leave and how how is that gonna work?
Well, I'll start with.
I never ever thought I would hear my name in the same sentence with loud Olsen, And then I don't think that's probably a fair statement.
But do you understand what I say?
Yeah, you know, uh uh you know, I don't know, you know.
Because there's gonna be a you're fifty seven, like you said, Uh, I don't know, ten years maybe whatever years you're gonna have to say goodbye. Who's you know. It's like it's like Wolfgang, I mean, how do you replace legends?
Yeah, you know, I definitely see my inter career a lot closer than the beginning of my career at this point in time. So you know, and every year, you know, I have to sit down and evaluate it.
And and this year was tough, you know.
I mean, I really really liked the team I ad on and off the field. You know, they they they actually made me do things that I was uncomfortable with in what way, just showing more personality postgame celebrations, you know, just you know, developing stronger relationship.
It's kind of a long story.
I don't know how much time we have, but you know, last year, these freshmen came in and they immediately took over the program. And there was one kid and I think he's been you know, on some talk before, Brandon Sanchez, who set the tone for the locker room, you know, and they just did goofy little things that all the kids really got into. And you know, I was sitting there last summer and I like, I like this group there, receptive to you know, different ideas way he's doing things.
And I read something about Pete Carroll when he was at USC and.
How he once a week he would.
Do some type of gimmicky thing to keep it you know, fun, and like you know, you know, you know they you know, they were playing Washington and bringing a bunch of Huskies during practice and haven't run through practice or you know, they were you know playing you know, like Texas Tech and you have some guy up on a roof, you know, shooting off pistols, like you know, the the mascot from
Texas Tech and you know. And then I also watch Australian Wolves fotball and they have a tradition there that the winning team afterwards gets together, they have a team song and the entire staff gets involved and team gets in a circle and.
They sing together.
So these are some of the things I wanted to try to try this year, and I thought it would be a receptive group. And I mean I actually spend some time, probably more time I'm trying to figure out postgame celebrations than I did on coaching.
Well you twenty of them.
Yeah, so yeah, it was very fortunate. So you know, so it just got me outside my comfort zone this year. So this group leaving is really hit me hard. So you know, I'm really trying to step back and you know, to get a little bit more perspective. Obviously, there's no time to stop recruiting. You know, even within junior college soccer,
we don't necessarily have a transfer portal. But you know, I've gotten thirty forty to fifty emails on transfers already, you know, so try to come here, Yeah, yeah, from other junior colleges or some four year universities that didn't perform very well. So you know, it's not like you can just stop recruiting, but you know it it you know, I think this year, probably more than any year, I've been closer to that end of my career than you know, at the beginning.
You turned into a softy as you get older, which is good. It's a good thing that you know.
We had a twenty five year reunion with our alumni this year, the first group that we took to the national championship game, and you know, a bunch of kids came back and and of course they're men now successful men, and they said, exactly what you just said to me?
Who is this guy?
What happened to the guy we knew? Right right? Right?
Like, well, you have to kind of adapt, like we were talking before, you have to. Well and did you do it because you had to or they kind of made you do it inadvertently?
Yeah?
I think it was more about them.
You know, they made me comfortable and going outside my box, and I thought they would buy into it and they would be receptive.
I really liked.
Them, and you know, I wanted to try to create a unique experience for them that they've not seen before it and I think we did that. And and of course now I'm thinking back, Man, I should have been doing stuff like.
This twenty years.
Yeah.
It could have well you already successful, it could have been more successful.
Thing.
Yeah, just you know, creating unique experiences and challenging myself outside is just a soccer knowledge is to be a better coach and create this bond, maybe even a little bit tighter.
Yeah, okay, were ready to go a couple of minutes. Ok Oh, you got a couple of minutes. Okay, So did you answer my question about who's It's gonna be tough because it's hard to replace people like that after all that success. It's kind of a rebuild or recalibrate or whatever.
Yeah.
You know, when I first got into coach and somebody once told me, you always want to be the guy to replace the guy that was the guy, you know, you know, and I'm not saying I'm the guy by the way. You know, PIMA has put in place a system for the all athletic programs. And I'm sure you followed Steve. You know, well, I think every athletic team at PIMA is naturally ranked down.
Yeah, they're very good.
You know, women's soccer naturally ranked. Both basketball is in the top ten. You know, track and field is a perennial top five ten, and you know softball had an unbelievable last year. And I don't want to put the pressure on Rebecca, but you know they're supposed to be even better this year, and they made a national tournament last year, and then of course, you know, kind of untalked about his Our new athletic director, a Ken hockem you who.
You know.
I'm watching the way he manages his teams and how he communicates and does everything, and that baseball program, you know, is set for big things. And it just shows you how hard for a junior college our conference is. You know, getting out of our conference in any sport is really difficult. Because Ken does a phenomenal job and he brings in, you know, all these players. I think he's got a couple of guys signed for the UVA already, you know,
so he's got major talent. So at PIMA, the athletic program, it's been set up to be very successful, and I think it's probably I don't think it's gonna be that hard to replace me, to be honest. I think they'll find somebody. They do a good job, and there's a lot to sell at PEMA.
A long way to go for that answer, guys.
Okay, okay, So we're gonna take a break here and come back with your breaking news right one, and then get a hold of a Jason on the other side,