Time for work one v one and we have to go to Mars Hill and catch up with a guy who's got a very full dance card and a very full business card these days. He is director of Soccer Operation, said from the men's side, Greg Mount up there at Marsil for the Lions. Greg, thanks for coming on for a one v one.
Yeah, no, thanks for having us. Hope you make the time.
First question, how are you?
We're doing all right? We're doing all right.
Mars Mars Hill has been it has been blessed a little bit with the not a lot of damage and you know, we're pretty much fully operational, so the town is doing okay, but obviously the you know, the big extended community is in a bad and a bad way. So there's just all hands on deck right now every day and you know, we're doing the best we can, so trying to stay positive, trying to stay optimistic and just taking it day by day and you know, just helping however we can.
Where were you when Helene came through as well?
As we live in Ashville, so Astroll has been hit, you know, really hard, So I was I was at home in Ashville.
So we are We've got power back on in my neighborhood.
But we're still without water and you know, pretty sporty sales service in things along those lines. But yeah, campus is about twenty five thirty minutes from me, so you know, I was, I was bunkered down. A lot of our guys were bunkered down, and you know, we had a few guys that left early. You know, but you know, the campus was pretty safe, but Astroll was was definitely in a state of different evacuations and things along those lines.
Still is obviously everybody just look it built more estate and they can see what's going on there and everything that's going on there in the Asheville area. When it comes to keeping in touch with everyone, and I'll include the women's side as well. Since you are director of Soccer operations, how much of a challenge has it been to keep in touch with everybody?
Yeah, I mean the first couple of days were really difficult because we didn't have any you know, any self service, and you know, we're just starting to get a little bit of the self service. You know, restored campus has actually had Wi Fi for the most part, which has been helpful.
But those first couple of.
Days, you know, we really couldn't communicate with with anyone, you know, coaches, administration, players, So a lot of our guys, you know, it was more of we came in, my wife and I and our kids. We came in on the second day, which would have been the Sunday, and tried to see some of our guys in person and get.
Some messages across and things along those lines.
But by that time, some guys had left and went home, some guys had been you know, had parents come and picking them up. And that was the same on the women's said, I think, you know, we had about twenty five guys remain on that Sunday. I think the women's team had about four hem so you know, they got out there pretty quick. And you know, our women's head coach,
you know, she lives in ourselves. We've got to connect with her on Sunday and just kind of come up with somewhat of a plan in terms of what this week look like, and you know, we know school and then just.
Take it day by day.
So we just we've been training our guys at one o'clock each day, just trying to stay pretty consistent, you know, and then as we get more information and can start to.
Kind of plan ahead a little bit.
That's letting us going to build out from there, and you know, really some of that communication with our you know, student athletes.
When it comes to what you've been able to see in Asheville and in your commute and in your communications, how bad is it still from what you've been able to look at.
Yeah, it's bad.
I mean there's there's there's no getting away from that. And now that you know we've had you know, self service somewhat restored and the ability to get Wi Fi, you can kind of see the damage and the videos and things and pictures that are out there.
My community was not fun.
It's not fun, you know right now, because I am passing areas that are completely devastated. You know, the River Arts District, which is a an unbelievable area in Asheville is is you know, just decimated, you know, and we've got friends and and things like that that have lost homes and lost communities, and you know even here, you know, mars Hills in Madison County, and we've got the town of Marshall which is you know, completely devastated as well.
You know, not to mention other you know, college and universities and other areas such as you know, Swannanoa and in places like this, So you know that the community and is you know, those first couple of days, I could kind of relay what was going on to our guys because because they're obviously down here in mars Hell, and you know, they're not driving past the you know, the the high water levels and and the damage and and the trees that have been down and all these
type of things. So you know, day by day there's there's definitely been progressed that the warriors went down. You can start to kind of see, you know, the remnants of what's left, and the clean up crews are are working day and night. You know, I've got a We've got a first responder that's my Stone neighbors, so he's he's gave us some information and just kind of gave
us an idea of what's going on out there. And it's not pretty, you know, and a lot of people are in a bad way, but the community are banded together and doing the best you can.
What do you need? What does the community need? What does mars Hill need? These days?
Yeah? Well, I mean I think you know, Marshall itself is. You know, we're in a an.
Okay spot with pillar, with water, with the ability to communicate, and you know, we don't have the whole campus here, so in terms of being able to the guys, get our other students and get meals and things like that, you know, that's been that's been okay. But I know the area itself is is definitely getting a lot of help, getting a lot of support.
You know, we've got to we have got to.
Go fund me page out there now that was set up by our alumni to try and raise the money for the Western North Carolina And you know, I can take that and put it in the hands of people that are going to be really use it, you know, such as the local church. So that's feeding you know, anyone and everyone, you know, twice a day right now with a very leming supply, they're out there trying to you know, dig out buildings and you know, search and
rescue and everything else. So you know, the list could be extremely extensive, but I think there's a lot of people going in a lot of directions just trying to get as much support to this, you know, this community as possible.
And that's not just Marcel.
That's you know, western North Carolina and you know, obviously the Ashville area as well.
And one of the things that we've tried to do here on the network and on the morning show is catch up with you, ketch up with Land and ketch up with Scott at Gardner Webb, ketch up with with you know, making coach McNabb down at u NCA and just kind of see, okay, who have you been able to get in touch with? Where the where the gaps?
How can we help fill those gaps? Because I think Montreat is a gap still because of it being in Black contain, it's difficult for fuck to you know, get in contact there, USC, up State Presbyterian, all of these different places that we might be able to know in gaps. Where are there still gaps for you that you're strying still trying to find information about what's going on and how folks are.
Yeah, I think you know, obviously, you know, we work you know, pretty closely with one treat in terms of you know, preseason game, spring games.
I've got a good relationship with the coach over there.
He's a Scottish fella as well, and you know, we just think there's just no communication going on right.
Now with mon treating in that area.
But you know, I've heard from obviously Mick, you know, and you know, coach McNabb and you know these other guys. So the soccer community is a big community, but also extremely small and tight knit community. At the same time, we've had a lot of people reaching out. It's you know, those first couple of days were really difficult to be able to you know, respond in a you know, somewhat of a timely manner getting back to people right away.
It was maybe days. I mean, I've still have messages where.
You're struggling to respond to people just because you're you're so overwhelmed people trying to reach out. But you know, the teams in our conference have been fantastic. You know, they're being extremely understanding of you know, right now, we didn't even know if we were going to have the opportunity to maybe play games, you know, but we've we've been giving the green light to you know, reshuffle some of our games that we've had to postpone, you know,
get those on the schedule, especially those conference games. And then we've had you know, coaches like coach Hammel at Wingate basically you know, we play those guys next Wednesday and basically say, all right, what do you guys need you know, when we when you guys load the bus to go home to campus next week, we'll put whatever under that bus we can where that's water, get a
red fruit and vegetables. I think I think that's probably one of the big things I actually speak to my wife last night is you know, our guys are doing okay right now there they're being you know, pretty pretty humble in terms of what we actually do have. But you know, the athletes diet right now has definitely been pushed. You know, not having access to you know, fresh fruit and vegetables and things on those lines does make things a little bit more challenging and there's a bit of
give and take there. But we know that there's supplies coming in, so that's that's obviously good news. But yeah, like I like I say that now that we're back online a little bit, we can we can reach out to you know, the local coaches, local schools and things like that and just trying to stay connected. But yeah, those first couple of days was was really difficult. But the soccer community has really banded together to you know, not only help their own, but ask in ways that they can help.
Hanging out with Director of Soccer Operations head coach on the men's side up at Mars Hill, Greg Mutt here for a one v one here on the SDH network. What have you learned about your players in the soccer program, both men's and women's. What have you learned about your coaching staff that in a situation that is that is, no doubt a crisis situation that very few of us have ever seen in or had to face head on before.
What have you learned about yourselves as a soccer program and athletic program up there at Mars Hill that you might not have known before.
Yeah, I mean the biggest thing that comes to mind. There's probably two pieces to that. You know, I already knew I had had a great staff, very reliable staff, hard working staff that are going to you know, do whatever's need to get by and just you know, take
on adversity and things on those lines. But I think speaking on behalf of the staff, and in my opinion, you know, probably the biggest thing that stood out to me for my guys was that on Saturday when we couldn't get here and we didn't know what was going on.
Our guys got together and they did their own training session and they spent time themselves so that they could still stay active, so they could still stay busy, so they could still be with each other with no coach direction, with no trainer direction, nothing like that.
So they've they've remained really positive.
They've asked every single day, how can we help, you know, how can we support? You know, as much I would love to bust them down to ashtroll and get them in into the community, from that standpoint, you know that there's other opportunities here in Mars Hill or in Madison County that they can they can volunteer with. You know, we don't have any school right now, so you know, we can keep them busy and they can stay busy.
But yeah, they've been pretty resilient and they've been pretty understanding. I know that can be difficult in a crisis like this, but they've understood that there's a lot of moving pieces here, and you know, there's people out there that are way worse than we are. So they just we're just taking a day by day, you know, hopefully trying to make progress every day and just being fortunate that we we're here,
we're together. You know, we're healthy, and we're in you know, a safe community, and you know, unfortunately that can't be said for everyone. So you know, we're we're definitely you know, I appreciative of that, that's for sure.
If my math is correct, and I think I'm fairly closed. You have seventeen players on the men's side that are not from the United States, and I think it's fifteen on the women's side that are not from the United States. What has it been like with them in a situation here where they're away from home A, they're along the way from home B, and then they're in a situation like they're having to face that they are with what Helene has done to Western North Carolina into the campus.
What's it like having thirty plus student athletes that are in something that I doubt any of them have ever been a part of, you know, staring at something like this.
Yeah, I mean that was I was obviously, you know, one of the biggest things for me, you know, the first couple of days, you know, just the limited ability to communicate, you know, so you know, parents were very worried, you know, I was, I was getting limited service. But when service was coming through, you know, what's that messaging emails trying to figure out, you know, are their kids safe?
You know what's going on.
You obviously, you know in different countries that they're they've seen the news coverage of of what's taking place here in western North Carolina.
So you know, those first couple of days were really difficult.
But what I can say is that the community of Marsell again banding together and making sure that these guys were safe, were looked after. We're checked upon, you know, wellness checks, all these type of things, you know, and then once we did get more access to Wi Fi and things along those lines, you know, the message was make sure you guys are reaching out to parents and in guardians and letting them know that you guys are safe, that you guys have.
Been looked after.
That you know, the school and the administration are doing all they can within the guid guidelines and you know, North Carolina to make sure that you guys are safe, and you know, in good hands and the administration have certainly done that.
And we've got a really good group of you know, community.
Members and things that already look after our guys and gals in our program, and you know, they've just doubled down, and you know, we've we've extremely fortunate to have these people in our life, that's for sure.
How are you staying in touch with them? I guess the fastest, slash most effect efficient way to do it?
Is it? Email?
Is it?
Text? Is it? What'sapp? How are you keeping communication?
Yeah?
So, I mean up until today, I've I've had you know, pretty much no self service at my house in Ashows. So I've been I've been coming to campus with my wife and my kids because that's been probably the safest place to be in and the best place to be. So a lot of our communication has been in person, and we've just tried to be you know, consistent. You know, one o'clock each day, we're going to we're going to practice and then you know, you guys can come in beforehand,
coming afterwards. You know, whilst well Wi Fi we can send up dates and things like that. But you know, pretty much until today, when I when I was leaving campus at five five thirty, I wasn't going to be able to have any kind of communication with the guys until I came back or I was fortunate to maybe have you know five g access at some some part of my community at different times of the day, whether.
That be you know, late at night or early in the morning.
So you know, we we're just like I said, we're getting updates every day from the school as well. They're obviously following you know, nor calling a guidelines and updates from the town and the surrey and things like that. So when we're at practice, we give updates.
You know.
Holly on the women's side, she does the same thing. Whilst I'm at practice. Holly looks after my two kids until we can practice because my wife, she works with LIONSDA, so she's out doing food banks and she's out doing you know, war stations and shower opportunities and different things
along those lines. So we're we're definitely being pulled in two different directions right now, trying to help her community, you know, but that our community here is definitely helping us be able to do that and be able to stay strong and you know, just try and keep some type of normalities as much as possible.
How much rest do you get.
Well, I don't need to set an alarm right now. So with two young kids, and I would say I'm getting more sleep. But I'm definitely not arrested, that's for sure. You know, We're just Yeah, I think everyone's emotionally tired. I think that would be the key.
I think.
I speak to my wife as well and speak to community members. Everyone is tired. But it's not so much physically, it's more emotionally, just the toe of what's going on. And I was not having many answers, you know, Like I said, Markussell is an okay spot right now, but Ashville as a whole, like we may be looking at multiple weeks without water, you know, and what that does in terms of just being able to keep people operational
and functional is extremely difficult. So, yeah, there's a heavy toll right now, and I think it's only going to get it worse, you know, before it gets better with search and rescue and updates and you know, the actually once you can see the extent of the damage to the community into the area.
So yeah, we just we sold you on. That's all we can do, all right.
So from a Mars Hill perspective, how can folks reach out help out? What are all of the places where folks can value up and try to help out.
Yeah, so we can obviously if they go on the website, they can they can grab my email address. You know, if there's if there's anyone out there that that's willing to help us, ways to help our community, you know, feel for.
You to send me an email. I'll get my.
Cell number over to you guys as well our social media platforms, you know, now that we have a little bit more of a better you know, connection and the ability to Wi Fi and self service. You know, we're trying to get some stuff up on social media. That was actually the first way on Saturday that I could send some type of message to parents on Saturday morning saying Hi, like you know, campus is safe. However I can't get there, but the guys are safe. Just just
bear with us. But we'll try and get more information as we get it. So our social media platforms are just Mars Hillmen's soccer on Instagram, Facebook, and then like I say, just quick as where it would be just just an email to me, we have that go fund me out there for western North Carolina. And then I know that there's there's many many ways that people can help, whether that's just sending supplies. Our mail room is open, Amazon and ups are delivering to campus so we can
get supplies here. If we need to go and grab supplies, we.
Can do that.
Supplies are coming out, So anyway in which people can help is greatly appreciated.
We you know, like I said, our campus is doing okay right now.
But our greater community is definitely struggling and we need all the help.
We can get.
Well. Just know that here at the network.
If there's anything that you need to get out news wise, you know how to get in touch with me. Tap me on the shoulder, shoot me a text, Sit there and go, dude, I need to hop on for a couple of minutes to let give an update on something here that we need to discuss. You know, you've got an open door policy up there. I've said the same thing to you and c A. I'm saying it to you. I'm saying it to Scott Wells at Gardner Webb, to
Lee's McCrae. And if you can get in touch with Montreat and Presby and sc up State and anybody else that you think needs to come on to have a platform to spread word about hey we're safe or hey we need help or both. You know, you've got a home here, so just reach out any time you can. I'm glad that I was able to get in touch with you before practice today so you could have that little bit of normalcy before we get out of here.
What are you looking at games wise? What it's the delay and so what are you looking at on the schedule now?
Yes, well know that no, that travel has opened a little bit and there's there's access in and out of North Carolina, so it's just going to be conference games from here on out. We only had two non conference games remain, and we've had to postpone those obviously and use those dates and the reschedules, and then you know, we had three games we had to reschedule, two at home,
one away. So we're going to start back up next Wednesday at wing Gate, which is you know, there'll be a really good test for our guys, and then from there it's just everything's conference game from there and then we've got five home games, which is which is great. You know, like I said, we've got tough year for our field hasn't been damaged, our facility hasn't been damaged. We have power, we have water, we have Wi Fi,
so we can run everything. It's just that that travel piece was definitely the toughest part to navigate.
But yeah, we've got nine games, nine games and conference.
To go, and yeah, if we're playing then you know we'll give our best goal and we'll do do what we can.
Absolutely Marshale Lions dot Com.
And then you go all the tabs and you follow the different programs Director of Soccer Operations, head coach on the men's side, Greg, Greg. Great to great to see you first and foremost, and know that everybody down here is sending all their love to every buddy up there. We'll catch up with you soon, my friend. Don't be a stranger, and I'm serious, do not be a stranger under any circumstance because of how things are going these days.
Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you guys.
All right, that's Greg mind. That's a one v one here on the SDH now,