This is I on the Ball with Steve Rovera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
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Hey, welcome back to Winning the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Dave cosbrove In. Today was my guest, and now we have one with breaking news.
This is I on the Ball, Breaking News on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Alrighty, Happy Thursday to everyone out there. Here's truly mister giddy two shoes, not on a Friday, on a Thursday.
Yep.
It feel a little bit weird, but we're here storry off breaking news going into some Arizona athletics. Something that just came across my phone. Tyler Loup officially accepted his invite to the to the Caribe Royale Orlando twenty twenty five Hula Ball All Star Game. So hopefully that helps his NFL stock. You can showcase what he can do to women's volleyball. They're still playing in the ni b C postseason tournament. They beat Wyoming last night in three sets.
They're onto the semifinals today against Northern Colorado at six.
Yeah, you're not covering that.
No, but they started the season eleven zero. They ustill have a chance to finish eleven know if they can go win it?
Yeah, yeah, because the one seven night right now, Yeah, they're on they're on a nine game win streak.
They got testing it tonight against Northern Colorado.
Okay.
Uh So, former Arizona basketball player Kim Iiken Junior accepted a plea deal in his sexual assault case on Tuesday.
Very very story, Yeah, very good, Go ahead, go ahead.
He's just playing.
He plays for New Mexico State.
Right right, he's involved because I'm a grad in New Xico State, and it brought down the program.
I know, the ad and uh there was a.
Group of kids, maybe two or three kids who were like Kim, harassing other kids.
Uh.
The other kids won a couple of million dollar lawsuit against these kids, these these hazing, hazing. I'm sure you probably have to worry about stuff like that, Dave, where you know, just being malcontents and dumbasses. And uh, he got caught with it, got caught messing around whatever. Eleven felonies I think three they were reduced to three felonies. And now he's got probation right for four four and a half years. So like that, I think it is.
Yeah, two felony counts of false imprisonment and one count of conspiracy to commit false imprison Yeah.
So so he played here for a hiccup. He transferred from Eastern Washington. He committed to to Sean Miller, stayed to play for Tommy. It was, uh, it was during the kind of COVID situation. He played seven games and then didn't play anymore. I guess something happened in that time, no one really knows officially. Uh, and then he left and it kind of mysteriously would have would have helped Tommy too on that team, but he left and then he got in.
Trouble anyway, State going to Arizona football. We've talked about some of the transfers. Some players leave me for different reasons. I think this is one where he just needed a fresh start. JT Hand did commit to Oregon State.
Okay, yeah, so that's the first one.
Yeah, so as the first one that's in the portal right now. He played some under Fish's first year. I think a little bit when the doesn't evening in and out with injuries sometimes so vested by to him in corgallis.
Uh to the NBA.
The Sons have become one of the top contenders for trade for Jimmy Butler.
Yeah, so the rumors were there yesterday.
I think, did you did we have I don't remember talking about trade and Stokes he he entered the portal yesterday.
He did you know? Okay, man, they're all jumping. They're all jumping.
Ever everyone and every sport, in every position. You have a lot of breaking news. Uh No, okay, So let me ask you.
So you see all these guys and I brought it up Dave earlier. You have all these guys known dude good dudes. And I was gonna ask you the question. Now I'll have to rephrase it because I forgot how I was gonna ask the question. Oh, have you, in your thirty years coaching had a team uh that just you knew you even knew this, that just not gave up, but you sense that they just weren't listening and may have given up.
I think every coach has probably that. If you've been in the uh you know, doing it a long time and you can can you fix that?
Uh?
I couldn't fix it.
I'll be honest with you, you had Yeah, I had at one year PM I can think of in particular, and then a couple of youth teams where you know, I just couldn't reach them, you know. And and ultimately, I think, you know, every good coach is going to look in the mirror first and go, you know, what am I doing wrong?
What can I do?
And and I tried to reach them and reach them, and you know, tried different ways, tried to coach differently, tried to approach things differently, and just it just didn't work, you know. And and that could easily be more me than the kids. And and and of course, especially when you're recruiting kids, you know, that's maybe your fault for getting the wrong kids in that don't match.
Your expectations, you know.
So that's again then falls on the head coaches shoulder or the coaches should Yeah. So you know that was more about I think me than it was about those kids.
Uh.
And it was it was eye opening because you know, usually I have a I feel like I always had a decent relationship with the players and and I could get them to buy in what we were trying to do.
Did you at any point think Okay, if it is me, should I get out?
I absolutely did? Yeah, it was what kept you in? Uh, you know a couple of things. You know.
Obviously, I still love the coach, I love being around kids. You know, there's always the financial component. You know, we're not you know, at PEMUT we're not making well, you know, four or five million dollars, so you have to consider you know what what that?
Uh?
And then you know what really kept me in is the next group I got. I got because we emptied out the kids. I think everybody had a bad experience, so some kids left, We asked some kids to leave, and we just emptied out and brought in a new group.
And that group was spectacular.
Yeah, okay, okay, I say that because I know that Sean Miller didn't with with Rowley, Awkins and Trier and uh Ayden. He said, I'm having a hard time getting through these guys. He walked it back because he realized what he had said, and then they started playing well again, and then they lost to Buffalo in the first round. But he would not have said it had he not meant it, because you know when they're you know, when they're not playing for you and this year. I guarantee
you bretton you that they weren't playing for it. How could he not?
Yeah, yeah, you know, and I just don't.
You know again, you don't know the relationships, right, you know, behind the scenes, and you've covered it more than I would be experiencing it. But major Division one sports football and basketball in particular, I mean, it has to be a completely different environment than like I'm at a college or even in a small.
You know, Division one. You know, when you're when you're in those environments.
I don't think unless you're in that environment you can understand the pressure, the strains, everything's that.
Go into it.
And you've probably seen Steve got you covered it for so long. But you know, I think every coach has probably come to that crossbroads with a group of kids, a team, or a certainly individual players where you just bang your head into the wall and you just can't get through to them. And I think a lot of coaches take that very personally, because you know, we like to think of ourselves as mentor as teachers, you know, and that you know we can we can reach that
kid with the one person who can reach it. Sure, And then also in reality, hitching a face and it's humbling.
Well, sorry to say this a day, and not to your level because you're not. I don't know anybody bigger with the egos than coaches, especially at the people I cover, because you know they're making millions obviously, and CEOs make money, but not like coaches because they're exactly which is I can change this kid or I can make them better.
The kid doesn't give a crap, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, I don't think you're the first one to make that statement. No, I might make an argument at sometimes probably at least at the professional.
Level of players might have a bigger you know, but uh yeah, I think I think that's why you get into coaching.
Because you're confident and you feel like you can make a difference, no question.
And then if you do it.
For a while and you're relatively successful, you start sometimes believe in your own hype. And you know, there's a saying, you know in soccer that you know, the great thing about the sport is just when you think you know everything, it teaches you you know nothing.
Yeah yeah, okay, I mean yeah, it's just getting it's also just getting harder with the little factors here. That's why you see legendary coaches sure like coach k Nick Saban, they're out of the game now because they just can't do it.
They don't want to deal with it.
No, you're right, and I how you how are you gonna pay coach somebody who's making half a million? Oh, coach, I already getting paid, you know, I know what I'm doing.
Yeah, I think you know, that's a really difficult situation. You know, what is the motivation for that kid to you know, listen to you, you know, especially if they are really good. You know, I'm gonna go to the Pros next year. I'm gonna make millions. I'm making hundreds of thousands of dollars now, And you're screaming at me for not you know, sprinting back.
Are you kidding me? Come practice? I'm talking about practice. I'm gonna be making more money than you will. And you know, also, yeah, I think that is really difficult. And I do think. You see a lot of coaches, you know, who are leaving you.
And then the reality is is, you know, Division one is now basically becoming junior college.
You can just leave after a year. You're you're reconstructing your teams.
Every year, you know, and you know it's very similar to the junior college environment, where you only have teams for two years if you're lucky.
Yeah.
Sticking with the NBA. UH, one of the best looking teams this season. The Cavaliers are adding to their talent. Max Struz is making his season debut today against the Wizards, so they get a little bit more to their Arsenal.
One of the assistants on that team.
Uh.
Last night we had some of the NBA Cup quarterfinals. The Hawks played the next they won one hundred and eight to one hundred.
The Warriors played the Rockets. The Rockets won ninety one.
They got robbed. You think so they got robbed, you I.
Haven't seen it.
We got robbed and Kerr was pissed.
Now I've heard about I heard about piss because there was they called the foul on a joke ball, and they called the foul.
With three seconds left. It's pretty pissed. Yeah, not that I'm biased.
The Rockets will be facing the Thunder on Saturday and Vegas and the Hawks will be going up against the Bucks. Okay, yeah, in Vegas, in Vegas, win in Vegas to the NFL. The Denver Broncos signed left tackle Garrett Bulls to a four year extension. So there they've they've found the guy they start.
I haven't paid that much if.
I believe, if they win on Sunday against the Colts, they're guaranteed the playoffs.
Okay, So who's your team?
You know, being in Arizona native there really has never been in on an NFL team. And of course, again, you know, I'm so old that you know, back in the day, you know, in the seventies, you get one game a week and e is either Dallas or Pittsburgh.
So I chose Pittsburgh. Yeah, okay, that's a lot of people are Pittsburgh.
So the forty nine ers are getting a running back back quote unquote Isaac Gooddo or Garyendo something like that. He has a spring foot, but he does plan. Played tonight against the Rams h Thursday Night Football. It's the La Rams, San Francisco. Forty nine ers in for the NFC West. The tight race. Yeah yeah, okay. To transitioning between college football and the NFL, Arizona wide receiver Ted Tarrow McMillan did declare officially the NFL all of twos on this Yeah, so best of.
Luck to him.
I've seen some projections to the Saints, to the Titans looking at the sixth seventh spot.
Yeah, the dude is good. You know what.
I've said this a few times. I thought he'd be the best player to ever play here, and then this year happens.
So that's screwed that.
I still think there's an argument.
Yeah, yeah, to have a season like this season.
Did what he did?
Was you State quarterback Malachi Nelson, the former number one overall prospect of twenty twenty three, is entering the transfer portal again.
I saw that. And they have another guy too.
They have two guys, right, two pretty good guys and they're in the playoffs or they're in the playoffs. Goes to show you how much talent is out there in the portal. And and you know, we live life, and you can never make anybody happy. You never know what's going on in other places, because everybody wants to lead the other place to be happier somewhere else.
Did you ever think you'd see the day where a kid could play college sports and play for four different teams in four years, Yeah, and.
Be eight years.
There's a dude at Miami who's been there eight years I think. And then the quarterback the Utah.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's amazing. You know that guy Malachi started at USC one year. Now he's at Boys's State one year. Yeah, he's going to go somewhere else for another year. I mean, I mean again, what a different college sports is now?
Yeah.
Yeah, going back to the cam Rising, I saw a graphic that said him and Trevor Lawrence were in the same recruiting class and Trevor Lawrence has played for the Jaguars for almost five years now, So college football. Last thing I got in college football. ESPN analyst Dan Mullen did agree to become UNLVS next.
Yeah, football, old coaches are being found somewhere right, he's doing ESPN Rich rog is going back home too.
There's a lot of hoo. Yeah.
Well, okay, that's all I got. Okay, we're gonna take the break, get a hold of that. In the the fess, Jason Finney, are.
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to you eying the ball here on Fox Sports Fortune fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera.
In today with me is Dave Cosbro from the Pima men's soccer program.
Now on the phone, we have Jason finnie A.
Describe what you do because I was trying to tell coach here more psychological fitness stuff like that.
Yeah, how do you guys do it today? So what I do is I actually work the full perspect of an athlete. So it's a whole health development program focusing on the physical and mental and the emotional. So really having a balancing between all three to make sure that there's a congruence and an agreement. So when the kid is practicing or when they're performing, you know, the mental game is just on the same plane as their physical. So mental toughness is really what I'm focusing on right now.
I'm working with some golfers that all Cantista door, a little fourteen year olds. They're doing fantastic and I've had two sessions with them already, and already there's an improvement. It's just a question of understanding what they need and really getting them to get a grip on the negative aspect of what's going on in their head, you know. So I'm really enjoying it.
We talked about this when I met you a couple of days ago, and I love I love the idea because I talk about mental toughness all the time because people don't talk about it. Over the last fifteen, ten twenty years, what did the mental part of it kind of become a big factor?
Although it probably was before.
Well, it's been like in our sports world for fifteen twenty years, but really it's hit mainstream i'd say in the last ten and specifically now the last five ever, since you're getting a lot of Olympians and stuff like that that are coming out and being public with their
mental health issues. It's just been something that people are paying more attention to and it's starting to hit the grassroots level, which is really cool because now it's giving kids an opportunity to understand what the mental game is and how it could help them perform better. Not just learn the actual physical skills, but learn the mental skills to deal with everything that's going to come with being a competitive athlete.
Dave. Yeah, it's great to meet you.
And you know, I've been coaching for a while and it's you know, this is an area I really have no knowledge, and so this is very interesting to me. So do you deal with individuals or do you deal with like the team concept as well? And how would you maybe start with an individual and then take it to a team like golfin's an individual sport, but I'm sure you work with basketball players baseball players where you know the team con that is, you know, very important for the success.
Yeah, so nice to meet you too, coach. Thanks so much. Really, the first thing is is just to get to understand the difference between the physical and the mental and how they go together, because most athletes, especially the young ones, they don't really see a difference between the two because they're told to just you know, get in the game or you know, focus more or you know, concentrate, you know,
play harder. But all that stuff means nothing to them unless they can actually put a meaning to what those words and those sayings are. And now what we're doing is we're helping the kids find the meaning of how they can actually implement that in their everyday training and in their games. So what we do is we create a program that it's the same as their physical program.
So if they're doing a physical program and they're lifting weights, right, they're going to be recruiting skeletal muscle and they're going to create hypertrophy in order to you knowlicit the response that they want to take, we're more muscle. Well, the same thing has to happen on the mental side. You have to create a mental muscle where you're actually conditioning your thoughts, your behaviors, and your thinking patterns to then allow your body to adjust and use that in your
game situation. Because what I found is that the mental game is something that can make the difference between making the team, making the playoffs, and winning a championship. And it's becoming more and more prevalent at the grassroots level, which is helping develop the athletes so that when they get to like high school, they're already there. They're starting to really understand the elements that are important when it
comes to the physical and the mental go together. You see a lot of it's been separate for the last sixteen years and it's like, oh, you got to have the mental training and then you have to add the physical training, but there's no connection. What I try and do is I create the connection between the two. So the athlete understands that the mental game has to be there for the physical game to work. Because in the morning, yeah go ahead, no, no.
You go ahead.
Well, for example, you know in the morning, when you go to bed, your feet don't start. You know, your mind tells your feet's time to get out of bed. So it's the same thing when you're actually performing. You know, your sport, whatever is, it's soccer on the field, if it's golf, you know, on the course, it's hockey, on your rank, whatever it may be, you know, it's the mental it's going to start the initial desire to create the action. And if you have that, then the confidence builds.
Then then you start to really, you know, have this intrinsic validation of what you're doing because now you're not looking for the outside occolades, because you can build it yourself because you understand what it means to create an environment for yourself where you can now do all of that motivating from your own intrinsic validation. And that's the coolest thing about it.
Yeah, so I was gonna go with motor mechanics and all that stuff, but I would, assuming this having watched a bunch of athletes have a couple of kids too, Dave, that you get better by practice, right, and you get better by practicing the exacts, say motions repetitively right, and then you just talk the same thing in the head in the mind.
Well, it's the same thing with your motivation training and your mindset training, is that it's all through repetition. So you have to do active training to create a different mindset because the mindset, if you just use that mindset to do your physical training with, you're not going to be able to change anything from your performance standpoint, because the mind that is not working now is what you're
trying to change your physical with. So unless you actually change the way you think, the way you actually visualize and see not only your sport but yourself in the sport, you're not going to be able to change the way you perform because that particular programming is not working, so we have to change the programming. How do we do that by creating an active training system that finishes the mind and allows you to get to where you need to be for the mind to work along with the physical.
So let me let me ask you this.
Does it work better for kids maybe under fifteen or whatever, because they're very impressional. It's like when you teach somebody's language, they learn better as a kids. When you're adult, you don't remember crap and all that stuff. Is it better to be taught young than maybe old? And maybe does it translate into the workforce? Does that make sense?
Well? Yes, absolutely. I mean, look, here's the thing. The only things that are never going to change in life is that you have to spend every waking moment with that body in that mind, So no matter your age, you can't change it. But the cool thing is, like you said, when you're young, you're a sponge and you can just really take in everything and learn really quickly all kinds of different things. And a lot of the
times there's no resistance. So you can teach someone who's younger and easier because they're not going to give you resistance and they're not going to have a lot of that noise coming from their negative self talk. There isn't
that much there. However, if you start working with an adult, you'll notice that you know, you have to get through all that resistance before you can get to a position that they're starting to build this mental force field, so to speak, so that they can create the long term change. But the first thing I teach the kids, and this is easy to teach them, is that you can't create change with something that.
Is not real.
So if you're living through a persona or the wishes or the hopes or the dreams right now, you're not gonna be able to move anything forward because it's not your reality right now. What your reality is how you're performing today, how you're feeling today, how you're thinking today. And once you accept that and really use that as your baseline, then we can create the change. And it's the same thing with the adults. But the adoles takes longer.
Makes sense, That makes sense.
So Dave here coaches seventeen eighteen, nineteen year olds, maybe a little older, and he coaches youth soccer as well. Very successful coach. Is there an optimal age?
Again, the earlier the better. But I work with a lot of sixteen to eighteen year olds, so the mental toughness is fantastic at any age. But really, if they're understanding that in order for them to be six sessbout what they want to do, they have to get through all of the cobwebs, so to speak, that are creating the resistance and creating all of the noise and all of those things that can affect them on the field.
If they understand that all that can be done through a mind training program, then they'll be also very easy to train because they're hungry. They want they want to have that difference. You know, everybody's looking for what is the edge? What can they find that's going to make a difference in their performance? How can they get the edge and the competition? And really it's what's between the ears, because when you get on the field, or if you're trying to make the team and it's between you know,
one or two or three players. Coach knows this that the difference is not necessarily you know, what's happening physically, because physically they're all pretty close to being the same thing. It's what's between the ears. Are they coachable. Are they do they have a good attitude? Are they a team player? You know? Are they able to deal with distractions? Can
they deal with their own emotions? All these things are the important elements that really come into place, especially today when you're trying to recruit players.
Yeah.
Yeah, you know, I'll be curious to see and maybe I'm misreading this whole thing, but you know, for a lot of coaches, I think, you know, you find out a lot more about your players and your kids' mental strength and their character through adversity or failure, you know, and the ability to deal with adversity and failure. You know, in junior college we don't have the funding to have airplanes and stuff like that. You know, we have sprinklers go off in the middle of a game and all
sorts of weird things happen. And the ability to adapt and be successful in those environments when there's adversity or even when you lose a game, or like you said, you know, you've played, you've started your whole life, You get through college, and now you're being asked to be second or thirdeen.
Is that stuff you address it? And if so, I mean, like, how do you go about doing that.
Well, you just have to break it down into steps, and for example, my Mental Toughness program is a twelve week pro to start, And what we do is we have to first of all, create the picture of the athlete today. Who are they today in this moment, So we just take the canvas and we painted according to how they are today. Once they accept that, then we can create change. Then we can make all the differences happen because you know, they're truthful and they're being honest
with their true self and not their perceived self. So the reality is true and not perceived. That's the first step. And once you get into the program and the kids understand this and they see the difference between really being honest with themselves, having to look at themselves in the mirrors, really really being truthful with who they are and what they are today, they understand that that's the only way you can create the change. And then we can work
on all the different elements. We can talk about negative self talk, we can talk about distraction, we can talk about reputation, we can talk about all these different things that will make or break an athlete as they get older and move up the ranks or at least try to because you know, anybody is looking for a complete
athlete today. Everybody wants the full picture, you know, recruiters looking and they're saying, you know what, I need someone who understands the mental game, who's got the physical skills, and who has the emotional ability to control everything, you know when things get a little too hot. And that's hard to find, you because you know, it's very hard to find. But more and more athletes are understanding the importance of training this and not just hoping it's going
to be there. You see, for for years, we just hope it was going to be there. As athletes. I mean, I played hockey all my life and you know, we never focused on mental training. It was like, just be tough, be this, be that, you know, get.
In the corner or whatever.
It may be, nothing to do with anything that will help the child understand why and how, and putting it into an actual structured program. Right now, we have the Now we have the possibility to do that. We can put this in a structured program and create change through teaching the athlete and or the young athlete exactly why they're doing it. And when they have the understanding of why, then they can implement the.
How we're all of the age of you remember Todd Morenovich and his parents try to like the role back guy that that perfect athlete, blah blah blah, and we saw all that went. So you're you're not looking to create the perfect the perfect athlete, you just want to smarter.
H No, No, I'm looking at helping people become better in everything that they do, because these are skills that will take them anywhere in life. Mental training is not just for the competitive athlete, but the competitive athlete who unfortunately doesn't you know, unfortunately fails to get to where they want to be with their athletics. They can take
the skills and bring them into business. The most successful business people were athletes, you know, because they have they have a desire, they have a competition, they have they have this edge about them. You know, they're hungry, they're very competitive. And not just that they know how to hustle, they know how to train, they're disciplined. All that stuff has to carry into the mental training as well.
Right right now and love.
As I said, the athletes become pretty good employers because they know about team, teamwork things exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and even if you're in an individual sport, you know, you still have a team around you, and you know, to make them understand that everybody that's around them is part of their team. It's kind of like an AHA moment for a lot of these young kids. They don't think about that. They think about, you know, if they're an individual player, if they're a golfer, or if they're you know, someone that just performs by themselves.
They think, well, it's just me. But when they understand it's not just me, they also realize that they're not alone on the quest, you know, right right, So it opens up a different door for them.
Do you handle do you handle teams or just individuals? Think they've asked you that too. Just where where are somebody's individual You don't have their own individual needs, but they kind of meld together.
It's interesting. So here's the cool thing about the program is that I can work with teams because what we do is we create the concept and we give them with the concept is but from there the individual details
are filled in by the player. So you know, we all, for example, deal with fear, and we all deal with abandonment, and we all deal with all these different issues However, what makes them pertinent to each individual are the details, what is their story, what makes it their personal story, And that's how we create the change because once something is personal to someone, then it resonates with them and it hits them. And you could only really change something
that affects you. You know. It's like if someone tells you something that you don't really respect, or you know, they mouth off or whatever. You know, you brush it off. It's not a big deal. But if your parents tell you, or your brother or your sister or whatever and you're you know, you're thirteen, fourteen years old, Wow, now that hits home right because it affects you because now there's
something attached to that. So the idea of teaching the athlete that you know, it's important to understand how to deal with these things is very very important to getting the kid to understand that that's part of their full development because the attachment that they have to their team, their parents, their coaches, this or that is becomes personal and as it becomes personal, sometimes it's very difficult for
them to handle it. So again, it's all about the emotional, you know, how do we channel We channel the emotional and get them to understand that, you know, when you make decisions on emotions, most of the time they're going to be wrong because you know, you're not doing the you're not making a decision according to the objectivity of the situation.
Right.
So j Jason real quick, because we've got to go. How can people find you?
Yeah, they can find me online. They can go to an athlete by Jason Jason with two s's O N. And they can email me at Jason dot Finny at gmail dot com. It's Jason with two s's. Or they can contact me on phone at seven eight nine zero two nine. And I'd be happy to have a consultation with coaches individuals.
No problem.
And you know, I'd love to help as many teams as I can. I'm brand new to Tucson. I'm looking forward to helping as many young athletes as I can. And I really appreciate your time and allowing me to, you know, let people know a little bit about what I do.
Great, Thank you, Jason. Good to hear from me.
Be well, Thank you so much.
Thanks, We got to go. Thanks a bunch.
Want for being patient. We'll come back for the next twelve minutes. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Lut, It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who
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Streamy Live on the Ihearts Radio while this is Eye on the Ball with Sta on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Wing the bout here at Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve, You're Dave done one with us. I think the show is better off we not on the air. I don't have to worry about the cousin. But no, we've got about twelve minutes, Dave, I hope You've had a good time so far.
Just shooting the crap. Oh.
I can talk all day long about sports and in particular about soccer, So this is a normal day for me.
Yeah, no, great, great, great. So you're you're at you were DOTC. You were at the FC Tucson, Right, is Ted still there?
Ted just left as our president of Okay he was there forever? Ted was great?
Yeah, Ted Schmid, of course, a longtime guy. Soccer in town has gotten a lot of levels up, I think, right, and you're benefiting from it.
Yeah.
You know, when I was a kid, I never thought i'd see anything like I have seen in America and in Tucson in particular.
But yeah, there's is very, very good youth soccer.
The junior college program men and women at PIMAR are both nationally ranked.
You know.
The women's soccer program at the University of Arizona, you know, has had good years and they had a good year
just recently, so that that's a solid program. And then of course you have FC Tucson, and then you get you know where you know, we get these games where MLS teams are coming to train here, USL teams, you know, the professional teams and you know, I think there's some talk that we may even see some national teams here at Keino over the next couple of years, maybe for World Cup and those events.
Yeah, well, it's growing, it's growing, and they're doing the facilities to make it happen, right or fixing the facilities to make it happen. And Tucson's kind of like one of those places you don't hear well rich Rod, did you mention that Richhard or somebody else's it's not a destination place, so you talked about with coaches, But if you fly over it and say, what's that?
What's that?
But once they get here, they look, it's the reason why you haven't left right one, It's the reason why I've stayed. You say, oh, it's kind of cool here. And I think Tucson is a unique place, you know.
And you know, when I'm out recruiting outside of you know, Arizona kids because you know, that's where most of our kids come from.
But you know, like today, I think Tuson is one of.
The best places in the country, if not the best place in the country.
From December through April.
Yeah, too bad your season is not during this time. That would be great if I could. Uh, well you were talking about that. Tell them the people what you were going through at PEMA with this very very good soccer team this summer.
Well, you know a lot of these kids.
I think this is probably true for all the athletes, whether you at the UVE or at PEMA or even the high school kids. The commitment that takes now to be to be good at what you do, and it doesn't matter what sport, but the time, the effort, you know, especially from the players.
And the parents. Now the lost equation.
And I know we always hear about the nightmare of parents, but there's a ton of really good parents who put a lot of time and effort into this.
You know, Steve, your family was one of those families.
Thank you, you know, but you know these kids, you know, a typical day for a college athlete. I mean, you go to school and you work, and your work is your your sport. You know, whether you're watching film or you're lifting, or you're training. You know, our kids train, you know at PIMA from August until basically Thanksgiving at two thirteen in afternoon, So in August, in September and October, it's brutal.
And you know this year. We didn't We didn't.
Start a practice at two thirty that was below ninety five until October twenty ninth.
You know, so these kids, you know.
They have to acclimate to the weather, they have to get used to training. It's it's not a very pleasant environment in August in September. And you know, our sport is no different than other sports.
The commitment and the effort.
And I've said this before, at least I asked you lest Tebieran or maybe Monaco or maybe Hockeymy nil is going to eventually trickle down because we know that they're going to get paid, and they're being paid down now with the revenue share, they're gonna be paid a lot more.
Eventually, get the junior college.
It's already in junior college, not at Pima, but there are places that are signing kids at il deals in junior college.
Is that the rich place? Just different different places.
I think I saw something where a kid couldn't qualify Division one basketball player and of course he had, you know, a big presence on social media, and they got him some.
Type of deal. Oh yeah, So yeah, it's coming down.
And it's also changing the way we recruit because they have roster limits. I don't know if you've covered that before, but a lot of the sports now have roster limits. So men's soccer now can only carry twenty eight kids where they used to be able to carry I think thirty four to thirty five. So that's another six kids who aren't playing Division one who are now going to go to Division two and that will knock kids down.
So you know, we're starting to see the trickle down effect. You have a rush limit.
Junior college does not you know, junior college to wild wild West to try to keep people happy and you know, make it so they're involved in investment in program. We typically keep between twenty five.
And thirty really, and there's no way you can to keep everybody happy. There's just no way or do you.
No, No, I don't think anybody does.
You know? And you know, and we we really, I mean, we have some excellent kids, like you know, this year we talk about you know, eleven sophomores who started for US I think ten or going to be moving on to play a four year university. But we had, you know, fifteen kids who didn't play with play a lot of games, but they came to practice in ninety five degree heat every day. Sure, and there's no way we get to where we did without those kids. And you know, that's
what I don't like about sports. Probably the number one thing I don't like about sports now is you don't know about the kids who do all the dirty work that don't get the notoriety of the social media, the stats, the top ten play on you know ESPN, Right, But these kids still grind, they go to school, they work, they're the first ones off the bench, they get up at five thirty in the morning, and nobody knows their names.
But you can't get to where you want to go in the team sport if you don't have guys to train against and train with.
Sure, No, I know you probably need at least twenty five, right, because you have to compete against each other on the field and do what you do on practice wise. So yeah, No, how is soccer and kids changed in the last you've been putting.
For thirty years? Three?
Yeah?
How's that? How was each changed?
Well?
You know, I think the game kind of is still the game, but there's different ways to play it now, and you know, it seems to go in a cycle where you do things differently so I think being adaptable as a coach and as a player is really important.
I love where the game's at now. I think it's a.
Fun game to watch, you know, it's it's it's a lot more athletic and competitive than I think people would notice unless you go see a live game and see how fast and strong these players are, which is true for you know, American football or basketball. You're talking about the elite athletes in our country, you know, and they're massive, and they're unbelievably athletic, and you know, they might be the twelfth guy on the NBA bench, but do you know how good that guy is. I mean that that
guy is an unbelievable athlete. So so, you know, I like where the game is at. In terms of the kids, I think, like anything else, kids just change, you know, they change from the sixties to the eighties to the two thousands to the twenties. And I think coaches, you know, are challenged every year to adapt it and roll with it. And that's I mean, that's one of the I personally like it because.
They are they more coachable.
I don't have a problem with them being coachable, honestly, you know, I think they ask more questions, and they want to know why things are happening a little bit more.
You know, why I'm not playing?
Why why did you sell me out? I think they feel a little bit more empowered.
I'm not.
I'm not personally threatened by that. I don't take that as like, you know, a question of my coaching ability. I like that communication with my players, but you know, I just think they're different, and you know, and for me working with different players, and every once in a while I'll go coach on the girls side just to challenge myself, you know.
I like the challenge. You know, I don't want it to be repetitive.
I want to, you know, be able to teach different ways to different people, you know, to different genders. So I think, you know, as the athletes change, I look forward to that challenge.
Right well, and they changed you, Well, miracles do happen, don't tell anybody.
Is Charlie Kendrick still around.
Charlie does do a little bit of coaching, and he coaches his kid within the club, but he doesn't do high school anymore.
No, No, I tested coach, I think, in my opinion.
Yeah, Charlie, you know one I think nine State titles in eleven years at Caltan of Foothills on the girls side. Incredible mentor incredible you know, uh, professional and what a great person.
And you know that because you work with them.
I mean, you know, Charlie is one of my oldest friends and somebody I grew up coaching with, so.
You know, I really have a fondness for him.
And you know, obviously he doesn't coach as much as he used to, which really is a loss for our soccer community.
Yeah, yeah, no question.
And there's a you have wolf Gang, like I said, with Kelly Pierce, who's done fantastic with stuffin over there, and then f C two Sons and all that stuff. Just a variety of styles too, right, everybody has their own style.
Yeah, and I think probably most sports and I don't know enough about professional sports other words, but you know, I think, you know, the great thing is there's different ways to play the game, you know, and there's not one right way to play, you know, And and you see that at the World Cup. You'll see different teams
play different styles. You see it in the MLS. You know, you'll in high school soccer and twos on Arizona and again I think the coaches who do really well are able to adapt their styles, to teach their styles to get the buy in from the athletes.
So so I wouldn't mind going back and pissing some people off at u of A.
So let's go.
So your dad taught there, You're you're familiar with Arizona some of your best moments because you must have been close. You must have been close watching it here at u giving. Your dad was a teacher or professor.
Yeah, no, uh, you know, I grew up with the u of A.
So you know, I still remember the UVA beating Miami in the Yestera Bowl.
Yeah.
I think that was a shutout, maybe twenty nineties ere zero.
Yeah, you know, and I remember for the first time a u of A player running away from the Miami secondary.
You know what you hadn't seen before?
Was that?
Was that Chuck Levy? Maybe? Probably? Yeah, back in nineties.
Usually the uf A running back gets run down by those leading schools. I mean he just went right by him, you know, heartbreak. Unfortunately, never get into a Rose Bowl, you know where. Sure, I think it was against Cow one year. We threw an interception late and if we had just beaten cow we would have gone on the Rose Bowl.
So those are a great memories.
You know, my dad, My dad was a big baseball guy, so watching you know, baseball in the eighties. Yeah, absolutely, you know, and remember the main if you were around for that and the comeback. No, yeah, you have to look it up. But you know, Arizona was down late, huge home run late. It was the first game there too, and I think it just sparked them and they just went on.
So so you know, you were just a kid then, right, Yeah, well.
I'd like to say it, but I was probably I think that was eighty six, eight or eighties seenager Yeah, yeah, you know, and then and of course, you know, I think everybody in tu Son's always going to remember nineteen ninety seven. Yeah, so yeah, I remember exactly what I was doing that night. That's what the Yeah, you know you were born, Yeah, I was. I was old enough to go down to fourth and you know, celebrate. And I've never seen two sons like that before.
Did you see bad stuff? No?
I was gone, But for the first three hours it was awesome. I mean, what a sense of community. And you know, of course everybody wants to write about this that happened afterwards. But I mean people are just stopping in the middle of street, getting out of car, hugging people. I mean I never thought we see that in Tucson, and it was awesome.
Right right.
They almost did it again in two thousand and one when they lost to Duke of course. Uh yeah, Nouson is a special place. It's just different, you know, it's just different. Yeah, yep, don't start crying one I might.
Honestly, I remember the good stuff in the back stuff. So you know when we lost to Wisconsin the first time, yeah, there was right diniversity. Yeah, but then you have teams like the women's basketball team with Aarry McDonald.
They Tuson loves that type.
Of story, right, right, and they're very loyal. They're very loyal.
Yeah, no matter how much we might be mad at them or hate our lives.
And how man they want to fire the coach, you always want to come back.
They always want to come back. Yeah.
Every year. It's like the Chicago Cubs. Every year they're going to win it, you know.
Sure, you know that's expectation, you know, and you know I didn't like, you know, for me, you know, just watching and he kind of got almost numb to it
what they did with the Arizona softball program. Sure, I mean, and you know, because I pay attention because you're talking about I believe Andre left coaching junior college baseball to become a softball coach, you know, for women, and you know, you build a dynasty, and you know, and it got to the point and I felt bad for him that, like, if they didn't win, everybody's like, what's wrong, right, because they just expected to win every year and and I mean,
you know, probably historically that's got to be the top.
Program at the University of Arizona. So here's my advice to you, Dave.
Don't screw up so you won't have anybody questioning you.
Don't go.
Don't go eighteen and five because what the hell happened with those five losses?
Yeah?
I get that all the time, you know, And and you know, I think the first person.
I always ask is myself.
Yeah, you know, but yeah, you know, you know, when you when you're expected to win it, it does create a certain amount of pressure.
Right, No, I hear you. The more you succeed, the more they want you to succeed or else. Yeah, even at.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I think people just assume and they don't understand how hard it is to continue you to win, first to get there, and then to continue to win.
They just assume it's going to always be that way.
And if you don't fire the coach, right and they have no part of You're seeing it all the time now socially. And my problem is they have no money in their pockets, they have no money in their bank. They're not going to help to contribute to the firing of the coach. They're just throwing it out there.
Yeah, I guess my biggest problem is, you know, the knowledge base, you know. I mean I hate to say, but you know, like you know, Tommy Lloyd knows more about basketball than anybody in the city, and he's going to fix that team, and he knows what's the problem. He doesn't need people to tell him that maybe they are getting out rebounded, you know. I mean, the guy's an expert, and he's won more games than three years than anybody in the history of the game, you know.
And I just don't feel I personally don't feel qualified to question that guy in any way, shape or form.
Yeah, as they shouldn't with you in soccer, so you know, you just show me a resume.
Here's my resume, give me a call.
Oh so that's uh Tom and loud Olsen in the same sentence with my names.
And just keep your resume in the back book. We gotta go. Thanks Dave for joining us, Thank you one for doing see tomorrow.
Last thing I got for you. You said the Warriors got robbed. Yeah, the NBA came out.
With their part. They said it was correct. Yeah, of course they're gonna say it's correct. We gotta go.