Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome back to another edition of Unleashed Athletics. Man, we are in baseball season in full swing, and I continue to have amazing conversations with coaches along the way. Hope you've enjoyed the episodes prior to this. But today we bring on a good friend of mine and a longtime coach here in the state of Colorado, Scott Foreman, the head coach of Lutheran here in Parker, Colorado. And also he's a part of Colorado USA prime, which is a unbelievable club in this area. And the reason why I'm so excited to have Scott on here today is because we talk so often of is high school important, is club important? How do those things work together? And this is a man that has done both of those things. So this will be a great conversation for people who are wanting to navigate that conversation, but understand that there are coaches out there that are trying to do both of these and excel in them. And Scott is one of those people. Scott, thanks so much for being on the show today.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Hey, I've watched your other episodes, man. I loved what you're doing, and I really appreciate the fact that I get a chance to be on with you.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Well, yeah, and I'll tell you what, I appreciate that. Thank you. And I'm thankful that you're willing to be on the show, too, because whether it was me in high school playing against your teams or even watching you from the sidelines, what you do with your programs is absolutely incredible. And I've seen teams that weren't that great, that you turned into great teams, and then I've seen great teams that you continue to excel. So thank you for what you do for scaling kids here in the state of Colorado.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: No, I really appreciate that. I think early on in my career, it was about winning, and it was.
[00:02:00] Speaker C: About trying to, you know, we talked.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: A little bit about this before we started talking before we started recording, but it.
[00:02:05] Speaker C: I've learned that this is about helping.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Young men become better young men and.
[00:02:10] Speaker C: Being great parts of society when they.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Graduate from high school and when they graduate from college. This isn't about winning state championships. We all want to win one.
[00:02:18] Speaker C: You know, we love that part of it.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: And kids want to win them and kids. But more importantly is to see the guys, guys like you that I got to coach on the rocky scout team.
[00:02:27] Speaker C: Way back in the day, you know.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: For us, for a fall, you know, look what you've done with your life. And that's what I'm proud of as a coach. You know, I'm getting to that part.
[00:02:37] Speaker C: In my career where now I'm coaching.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Against former players of mine are now coaching high school. And I'm so proud of those guys, and I'm so happy for those guys.
[00:02:46] Speaker C: And, you know, for me, it's. It's love of the game of baseball.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: It's the love of. Of the competitiveness. That's what's kept me in it.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: And.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: And Lutheran has allowed me to do.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: That for the last two years.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: And I'm, you know, this is my third year there, and I'm so thankful for them to give me another opportunity to coach.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: And it's been a blast being there.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: Well, you deserve that opportunity, that's for sure.
[00:03:10] Speaker D: You.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: You hit on something right away and not. Not to start stirring or anything like that, but do you believe that your parents believe that you want what's best for your. Your student athletes? Do you believe that they think Scott really does love my child?
[00:03:29] Speaker B: I hope they do. You know, I live my life that way. I can't control how they think. You know, I tell parents all the time, it's your job to love your.
[00:03:38] Speaker C: Son and to support him.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: And I understand, and I learned this the hard way because I was a.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Parent of a competitive athlete, of two.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Competitive athletes, two girls that. One played basketball, one played soccer.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: And it's hard to watch your kid go through tough times.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: And I learned. I think it really helped me as a coach.
[00:03:58] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:03:58] Speaker C: Okay. And understanding the parent side, because all parents want is they want their kid to be happy. They want them to have success. And when they don't, the parents hurt just as much as the kids do.
[00:04:11] Speaker D: Right.
[00:04:12] Speaker C: Really do.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: And if you understand that as a coach, if you understand that, then I think you have an understanding of your athlete a little bit better. I'll give you a great example. We had a young man come in.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: And pinch hit the other night. He struck out.
[00:04:23] Speaker D: Look. Yep.
[00:04:24] Speaker C: He was in tears.
[00:04:25] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:26] Speaker C: He was in tears.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: He let it team down. He knows he did.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: He felt bad about it. And I just hugged him and told him I loved him.
[00:04:34] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:04:35] Speaker C: You know, I did, and I do.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: And you know that kids come through for me many times in pinch situations.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:41] Speaker C: So I want what's best for the kids.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: And it's not. Baseball's hard.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: It's not always going to happen. Right. Like, it's not that.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Well, yeah. Baseball is a game of failure. You know, three out of ten makes you a hall of famer.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: But I hope.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: I hope the parents. I hope the parents know that I love their kids.
[00:04:57] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: The reason why I brought it up was I'm not sure that parents always evaluate that. For me, I think what is very, very important is making sure that these parents understand that you're not just there to win and lose games. You're there to try to see young men become adults, to become married, become fathers, become the next coach. Like you mentioned, parents need to hear that because you guys are human, too, and you guys feel those emotions and you want to hug them when they're crying and you want to do those things. You want to be a not, not a second father, but you surely want to be a mentor in their life where you know you're making an impactful difference in the person that they're going to become.
[00:05:39] Speaker C: I want them to understand that, that I've gone through what they've gone through.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: I've thrown interceptions in big games.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: I have struck out many times, I have given up home runs, I have made errors defensively. I have all those things. And I'll give you a great example.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Of this, and this is a great story about my father who coaches with me. He's 86 years old, still coaches me to this day. I'm twelve years old, playing in a little league all star game, and my.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: Dad'S the coach and I'm pitching and.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: I gave up back to back home runs and I'm on the mound and I start crying. My dad comes out, takes the baseball.
[00:06:16] Speaker C: From me and I didn't live too.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Far from the park that we were.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: At, but he said, you need to.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Walk home and think about whether or not you want to play this game.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: And I go, what do you mean? He goes, you're playing a game. It's a game. This is twelve years old.
There's no reason to be crying. And so that impacted me. Yeah, like, that really did impact me.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: And I say it all the time.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Baseball is, it's just a game. It's not life and death.
[00:06:39] Speaker D: Yeah, right.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: We know that. I mean, we all know that. But to these boys that are playing.
[00:06:44] Speaker C: It, it's really, really difficult for them because our social medias and everything that.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: Is so caught up in how great you are. You go over three when you're one.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: Of the studs and the other teams.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: Razzing you, the other parents are getting on you.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: The other, you know, that's hard for these kids.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: And so our job as coaches is to teach them the game.
[00:07:05] Speaker C: But more importantly in my life is.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: I want to see them go off.
[00:07:08] Speaker C: To college and be successful. I want to see them go off and be just the best player, human being, young man, son, brother, all those things. And then guys like you that have.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Played, you know, back in the day and that go on and coach, and then you become an ad, and now you're doing all this great stuff.
[00:07:27] Speaker C: I mean, to me, that is what.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: I love to see more than anything.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Else, and I've got to see it a lot.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: I mean, there's so many great players that have played for me that have.
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Become great fathers, great husbands, great human beings. Right?
[00:07:39] Speaker D: That's it.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: That's what I love, man.
[00:07:41] Speaker D: Yeah, love it. Yeah. And I.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: And I say this on the podcast all the time, but it doesn't mean we don't want to win, you know? You know, like, I just want to make sure that we're clear because coach Lingo can sometimes get hung out there. But we are not saying that we're not going after it to try to win every single game, because we're going to. But there are bigger things as well. And again, humanizing the coach is really what I'm after. At the end of the day, I want to make sure that people understand that. Hey, and you're a perfect example, Scott. I have seen you hot on the side. Like, I have seen you fired up, ready to win a game, fired up because your players aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. But I've also seen after a game, you walk away with your arm around a player, and that humanizes you. And if parents aren't looking for those moments, they go, all he cares about is winning. He doesn't care about my kid at all.
[00:08:38] Speaker D: And.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Or they just hear this podcast and they say, man, he's kind of soft around the edges.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm definitely not soft.
I would. I would. I would be willing to bet my daughters will tell you I'm not soft. I mean, I, you know, like, I'll never forget, my daughter asked me one time, you know, she was like, the 6th player or something. She goes, I'm better than that girl. I go, don't tell me, tell your coach.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Show your coach.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Can you stop being a coach for a second and be my dad, you know? And I'm like, it's true.
[00:09:04] Speaker C: You're right. It's.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: It's a fine line. It really is a fine line because I do get fired up. I want to win.
[00:09:09] Speaker D: I got.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: We lost two games this week, and I tell people this, I lost two games this week. I didn't. I didn't have practice yesterday because I. I wasn't sure I could be positive.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: I wasn't sure I could.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: I mean, because I ripped them after the game.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: And the difference between me and a lot of coaches is a lot of coaches will tiptoe around things I don't tiptoe at all.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: Like, I call it exactly how I see it. I say things that maybe I don't.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Berate a kid or anything like that, but if a kid makes a mistake and it's something we've worked on, I'm.
[00:09:37] Speaker C: Going to let them know, you got.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: To get better at this.
[00:09:39] Speaker C: This is not acceptable. I'll give you a great example.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: One of my best players threw the bait through the ball to a wrong.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: Base in a crucial situation.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: He allowed a guy to go from second to third, the winning the tie in or the, the tying run, to go from second to third on a fly ball.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: He threw the ball home, missed the cut, and the guy goes to third.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: And we get a pass ball, and.
[00:09:58] Speaker C: They, they tie the game. If he keeps the guy at second base, that guy doesn't score. I let him have it for that because that's something he should know.
[00:10:07] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: And. But it doesn't mean I don't love them. It doesn't mean I don't care about him. It doesn't mean that I'm holding that over. But I really did need a day.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: Like, I needed a day to gather my thoughts and. And not go at them again because.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: I just went at him after the game.
[00:10:24] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm good. Yeah.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: That's interesting, too, because you're holding kids accountable, and it can be received one way or another, whatever that might look like. But why is holding people accountable so difficult in this generation right now?
[00:10:40] Speaker B: Well, we don't hold accountable people, and we don't hold people accountable in life.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: Like, how are we going to hold.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Like, I say this all the time.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: I mean, it was difficult for me.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: When I started coach, because I was a young man who my dad held very accountable.
[00:10:53] Speaker C: Like, very accountable.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: Like, you better be doing what you're.
[00:10:56] Speaker C: Supposed to be doing.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: He used to say this, and I say this all the time. He goes, that name that you use, it's not yours.
[00:11:02] Speaker C: You haven't earned it.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: The last name, hormon, is not yours.
[00:11:05] Speaker C: That's my name.
You have to earn it. And so, like, for me, it was.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Difficult because when I got to heritage.
[00:11:15] Speaker C: Kids were skipping classes like, kids.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: I mean, I had a kid who skipped 137 classes but was still eligible.
[00:11:21] Speaker C: I mean, he had all a's and B's.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: He's a smart kid. But if you skip class, you're not playing. So I had to change that culture really fast, and it was really hard. I was worried every week when I first got there.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: I was worried every weekend about kids getting caught doing things they shouldn't be doing.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: So I would be texting kids at 10:00 at night. Where are you?
[00:11:38] Speaker C: What are you doing? You know, are you staying? Are you making right decisions? I even had a parent who I'm.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Very good friends with to this day.
[00:11:45] Speaker C: Who allowed things to happen at his house that shouldn't happen. And so I told the kids they.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Weren'T allowed to go there. That parent showed up at my practice, was mad at me, and I explained to him, I'm trying to hold these kids accountable. You allowing them to do those things.
[00:11:59] Speaker C: At your house, that's your decision. But if they want to play for me, I don't want them to be.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: Part of those things.
[00:12:07] Speaker C: And I'm great friends with that man to this day.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: Like, we have a great relationship.
His younger kid ended up playing for me, love him to death.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: Still talk to them both, like, but you gotta hold.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: You gotta hold your players accountable. And it's difficult because if they get to talk back to mom and dad.
[00:12:24] Speaker C: At home, what do you think they're going to do to me?
[00:12:26] Speaker D: No doubt.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: Right.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: And if somebody talks back to me, it ain't good.
[00:12:30] Speaker C: So.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: Because I never talked back to any of my. I said, yes, sir, no, sir to every single one of my coaches growing.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: And I was very lucky to have incredible high school coaches for all three sports that I played.
[00:12:43] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:12:43] Speaker C: And very different.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: And I've taken something from each one.
[00:12:46] Speaker C: Of them, you know? And so it's hard to hold kids.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Accountable because they're not held accountable in life anymore. Even in school now, you don't do.
[00:12:54] Speaker C: Your homework, you still get a partial rate.
[00:12:57] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:12:58] Speaker C: Right.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Like, you can turn it in late.
[00:13:00] Speaker C: If I turned in and something late.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: When I was in high school, and most people my age will tell you.
[00:13:03] Speaker D: This, you got zeros. Yep.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: And don't even bother turning it in.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Don't even bother turning it.
[00:13:10] Speaker C: But we.
We just don't hold our kids accountable.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: And, yes, that's.
[00:13:14] Speaker C: That's unfortunate.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Well, and I think that that segues this a little bit. But as we talk about kids not being held accountable, that becomes really difficult for a coach because now when you. Now, when you want to pull somebody out of a game, they don't understand why they're being pulled, because the accountability piece that you're trying to instill in them isn't being taught anywhere else in their life. And so it becomes an eye roll to them of, coach hates me. Coach doesn't want me to go the distance. He doesn't want me to be successful. Rather than seeing the fact that, hey, if you're not going to do your job today, if you're not going to be prepared for what we are preparing for, then, then you're not ready to go today. And I'm going to try somebody else that is willing to be prepared. But I feel like there's this tension inside of there because they're playing so many games that they don't understand how important every game needs to be in their mind.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: Well, and that, that's why high school is so great.
[00:14:16] Speaker C: I mean, and we kind of talk.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: About high school and club and, you know, I do both. And it's, it's a, it's a, it's a landscape that not many coaches, you know, really do.
[00:14:26] Speaker C: But in the club game, you're playing.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Every weekend, you're playing five, six games, they mean nothing. Nobody cares who wins. Nobody cares. It's how many endings did I get to pitch? They don't care.
[00:14:36] Speaker C: They're on pitch counts.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: They're, they're, they got so many things going on now. Like, if they're good, they've got an agent in their ear. If they're, if they're going to play d one, they got a d one. Coach, tell them you can't pitch in the summer. It is, it is. The summer has diluted. And I'm just as much to blame in my club organization. This is a necessary evil at this point in time in my career to do club baseball. And I love it. Don't get me wrong. And I love the young men, and.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: I think we help young men. And, I mean, we had 29, 29.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Kids this year, 2024, that are going.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: To play college baseball. That's huge.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: So it's a huge thing and it's.
[00:15:08] Speaker C: Great, but it has diluted the competitiveness.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: It has diluted the accountability. It has diluted, hey, coach, I'm not going to be there Friday, but I'll be there Sunday, Saturday and Sunday, and.
[00:15:17] Speaker C: I expect to play right. Like, that's the way it's become pitchers.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: I'm only going to show up the days I pitch.
[00:15:23] Speaker C: Coach, who in our day, who in the, in the world would say, that's okay.
[00:15:29] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: Never fly.
[00:15:31] Speaker D: No.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: There every day. You're part of a team. You're there every day. You're doing your work. You're getting your work in, you're supporting your teammates.
[00:15:36] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: There. It's changed.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: So accountability is the hardest part of life.
[00:15:42] Speaker C: The hardest part of coaching the.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: Holding kids accountable without going overboard, without.
[00:15:47] Speaker C: Losing your job, because we, you know, I think I told you this every.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Time my athletic director calls me for.
[00:15:53] Speaker C: Any reason, like, any reason. And she is amazing. And she, you know, this doesn't happen.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: But anytime she calls, I'm like, okay.
[00:16:01] Speaker C: What did I do?
Well, what?
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Parents complaining.
[00:16:04] Speaker C: Right. Like, and. And I understand parents. Their job is to love their kids. Right.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: We say, I've said already, but you can't blame the coach for everything that.
[00:16:13] Speaker C: Happens to your kid.
[00:16:14] Speaker D: Yep.
Yep. That's it.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah. You're nailing it. I mean, I feel like I don't need to say anything. I can just sit off to the side and let you keep talking, but I'm trying to keep navigating.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: It's just hard. It's just hard. It is, you know, because, again, we do, our job is to. Is to teach them to be young men.
[00:16:32] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: How are we supposed to teach them to be young men if there's no accountability for their actions?
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Let's get back to the. To the club landscape a little bit. If I were to ask you, how would you tell a kid to navigate through club sports? They don't know what team to choose.
They don't know what's best for them. Where do they start to be successful?
[00:16:55] Speaker B: First of all, we have. We have some great clubs in the.
[00:16:59] Speaker C: State of Colorado, and, I mean, really, really great clubs. And they all kind of do different things. Like, they really do.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: I would tell. So I tell my players this.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: I don't care where you play in the summer.
Couldn't care less.
I have some that play for me.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: I have a ton that play for game day over there in, in Parker because it's close and it's.
[00:17:19] Speaker C: It's.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: It's very easy for them. And I love the guys at game day. I get along great with them.
[00:17:24] Speaker C: They're great people. And most of our players get. Get better by playing. I tell them, I want you to play baseball.
I want you to get better. You don't have to travel if you don't want to.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Some people love the travel stuff every weekend.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: Some people don't.
Whatever fits your family, your budget, your ability, your desire.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: That's what you do.
[00:17:50] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: Club is difficult to navigate because you have club coaches. And I just saw a post, it's so funny.
[00:17:56] Speaker C: I just saw a post on.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: On Facebook of a coach who obviously.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Has his own team and was ranting.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: About clubs having tryouts for 2025 right.
[00:18:07] Speaker C: Now, which I think is a joke. Like, are you kidding me? Like, I'm trying to figure out the rest of this summer I got for.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: This 2024 summer, and they're already having trials for 2025.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: I agree with that guy. That's. That's crazy, right?
[00:18:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: The players, for me, know they can.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Play anywhere they want. Playing for USA prime is not going.
[00:18:26] Speaker C: To get you anything with Lutheran.
Like, and it's true. I cut three players this year that were part of our club organization. They weren't good enough to make one of my teams, even though they played in my club. Right. It's very difficult.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: The landscape is hard.
[00:18:43] Speaker C: And to be honest, as a high school coach and a club coach, it's hard. I don't wear any USA prime stuff right now.
Like, I'm wearing all lutheran all the time.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Cause that's the season I'm in, and that's the. Starting in June, I'll start putting my prime stuff on, and I'll get out and I'll start working on prime stuff.
[00:18:59] Speaker C: I mean, that's kind of how it is, Scott.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: How important is it that you find a team where you're actually playing every single day versus being on the top tier team?
[00:19:07] Speaker B: It's so funny you said that. I was doing a recruiting talk last night, and coaches don't care what team you play on.
[00:19:12] Speaker C: Coaches don't care if you're good enough. They're going to find you if you're good enough.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: They're going to see you if you're good enough.
[00:19:18] Speaker C: It doesn't matter what team you're on.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: Gosh, it's hard because I coach a.
[00:19:23] Speaker C: National team with prime.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Like, I love those kids. I mean, they're kids from all over.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: The country, but, like.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: And I try to get Colorado kids on that team to get them seen. That's important to me.
[00:19:33] Speaker C: Like, I think I have four Colorado kids on that team this year, which is awesome, but no one cares. College coach doesn't care what team you play on.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: I told parents last night at this recruiting visit, you. You always. People are like, well, you got to be on a team that goes deep in the.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: Deep in the tournament. I go, that's.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: That's not correct at all.
[00:19:53] Speaker C: I go Sundays.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Where do you think those college coaches are?
[00:19:56] Speaker C: Sundays? They're home with their wives.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: They come Thursday and Friday.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: Some stay Saturday, and then Sunday they're gone.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: There's only four teams left. Why are they there?
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Watch it.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: They don't want to be there watching four teams they want to find all the 26 teams that are in it.
[00:20:08] Speaker C: And try to find somebody.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: So I say the first two days.
[00:20:11] Speaker C: Are more important than the last two of tournaments.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: You know, I think it's important to find a place where you're going to.
[00:20:17] Speaker C: Play, find a place where you're going to hone your craft, find a coach that cares about you as a person.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: I tell people when I first started.
[00:20:26] Speaker C: Coaching, it was about me.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: I didn't learn.
[00:20:29] Speaker C: I didn't know it was about me. I got tossed my second game ever.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: In Heritage high school.
[00:20:35] Speaker C: Like, I had to learn that no.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Matter what I do as a coach.
[00:20:40] Speaker C: And this is the honest guy truth.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: I don't care any coach.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: You talk about every mark johnson, who.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: I love and is one of my.
[00:20:46] Speaker C: Mentors, you, when you were valor. We're only as good as our players.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: If our players are good, we look.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: Like really good coaches.
We look. But if our players aren't very good, no matter. I didn't just start to coach differently, right?
[00:20:59] Speaker B: I didn't coach any differently than I.
[00:21:00] Speaker C: Did the year before, but I only won six games this year.
[00:21:04] Speaker D: Why is that?
[00:21:06] Speaker C: I miraculously forgot how to coach, I guess. Well, and it's the same thing the.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Other way, you know, I won 26 games my first year at lutheran while we were playing three.
[00:21:14] Speaker C: A right.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: I had talented, talented, talented young men.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: I didn't go out and hit a.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Baseball for any of them. I didn't throw the baseball for any of them. I didn't.
[00:21:23] Speaker C: You know, we as coaches, we all have egos. Mean, we're all former players.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: We all have egos.
[00:21:30] Speaker C: But when I learned that it's not about me is really when I became a better coach, in my opinion.
[00:21:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: Yeah, that's real.
[00:21:39] Speaker D: And I.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: And to go back to the first part of what you were talking about, players, you need to hear clearly that if you're riding pine all summer, you defeated the purpose of paying the money and, like, you gotta go play like it should be fun. So find a team that's the same type of caliber athlete that you are, so that you guys are growing together and learning together. But if you're riding Pine and you get to play once a weekend, one, you're wasting your money, but two, you're wasting your time.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Well, you're not wasting your money. You're wasting your parents money.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Well said, right?
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Well, yes, you're waiting, and parents need to hear that. So when parents go, I want them on.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: I can't believe you put them on this team.
Well, I put him on that team.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: So he would play.
[00:22:23] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: You know, it's the same thing I do with my. My Lutheran organization. I don't. When a kid makes a c team, let's say he's a sophomore and he thinks he should make JV.
[00:22:31] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:22:32] Speaker C: I put him there because he's going to play.
I didn't put him on JV to.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: Sit behind a kid. I put him there because he's going to play and he's going to get better, which is going to help him.
[00:22:41] Speaker C: And it's going to help me. Right.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: So it's selfish on the coaches part a little bit, too.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: It's. It's really funny, Brian.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: I did this exercise with my players the other day. I had them write letters to the.
[00:22:50] Speaker C: Freshman and sophomores, my varsity team, about their experience at Lutheran, what they went.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: Through kind of when they were freshmen.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: And sophomores and to a t. To a t, every one of them wrote.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: I was not happy with where I.
[00:23:03] Speaker C: Was as a freshman, but I put my head down and I worked and coach said, you know, I put you.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Here because you're going to play.
[00:23:09] Speaker C: But I wanted to play.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: I wanted to be a guy who.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: Played on this level. It was great to read because those kids, you know, and these are guys.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: That are going to play college baseball.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: A lot of them, they wrote, I worked harder, and I got in the.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Weight room and I did all these things. And those letters are going to be given to our freshmen and sophomores at.
[00:23:27] Speaker C: The banquets, and I want them to see those letters because they all feel that way. If you don't feel that way, what's.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: You know, what's going on, right?
[00:23:36] Speaker C: Like, oh, I'm great.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: I made the freshman team as a freshman.
[00:23:39] Speaker C: I'm great.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: It's a fine line because you want them to compete.
[00:23:41] Speaker C: You want them to be challenged, but you want them to play.
[00:23:45] Speaker D: Yeah, gotta play.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: I just think people forget how fun it is. It is fun to be on the field, and I don't care if it is on the freshman team or the JB team. I would rather be on the field competing than say that I'm a varsity athlete.
[00:23:59] Speaker D: And I.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: And I get the stigma between the two of, like, man, saying that there's so much pride in it and you feel so good about it, but at.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: The end of the day, I made varsity.
[00:24:08] Speaker C: I have.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: I played one inning, but I made varsity.
[00:24:11] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: And I lettered because I played that one inning, you know, like, you're like, man, you're. You're out of your mind.
[00:24:16] Speaker C: You're.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: You're losing it because your whole life you have played on these teams where you played every single day, and now the perspective changes because the varsity label is on there or whatever that might be.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: And think about it this way.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: It's the same thing with college.
I say this all the time.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: I told you this when we were, you know, when we were kind of prepping for this.
I played in eight games in four.
[00:24:39] Speaker C: Years, but I was a division one quarterback, man.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Oh, God, that's the greatest thing ever. Looking back on it was the dumbest decision I made.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: Now, you know, I didn't quit. I kept saying, I'm going to.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: I'm going to prove this coach wrong. I'm going to prove this coach wrong. Which was great.
[00:24:55] Speaker C: I stuck it out, but I should have gone to a smaller school.
[00:25:01] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:25:02] Speaker C: And I would have played and I.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: Would have had a much better career.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: I get it. You want the prestige of playing division one, but in reality, don't you really want to be the all star?
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Well, and don't you really want to play? You know, I mean, you don't even. I told the kids last night at this recruiting thing, they said, listen, I said, you don't have to be the best.
[00:25:21] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: You got to strive to be the best, of course, but you don't have to be the best. I have a young man that got five at bats his senior year, played college baseball, walked on at an NAI school.
[00:25:31] Speaker C: Played.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: Now he is a sports agent for baseball players.
[00:25:36] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:25:38] Speaker C: Right.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: That's the story.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Because he loves the game so much that he wasn't going to let me keep him from playing it, which I gave him a great recommendation to that coach because he was a great teammate.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: He was a great young man. He had great grades.
[00:25:55] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:25:55] Speaker C: There's a place for everybody.
[00:25:57] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: And I think people are scared of that. I think people are scared to think, I could go play division two. I could go play NaiA. But I really want to be able to say, I'm going to a division one. I want to be up on that podium on signing day saying, I'm going to LSU. Or you fill in the blank of school and they get so worried about that that they actually forget what the priority is. Priority is one your school gets paid for. You're coming out debt free.
[00:26:28] Speaker D: To that.
[00:26:29] Speaker A: You get to go play, and you're going to be a contributor to that program and help their legacy continue on.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: Well and again, like it get. They get it. They get hit in the face with it really quick, like they get. I mean, I'll never forget showing up at my division one school. I went to Eastern Michigan University, small d, one in the map. I was told I was the only quarterback being recruited. Number one, I show up there and there's two other quarterbacks, and both of those guys are all state quarterbacks from their states. One, six foot, 4215 pounds, the other one can flat out fly. And here I am, soaking wet, 165. Six, 1165, and I look like a bobblehead with a helmet on. So, like.
[00:27:17] Speaker C: Like, it was a crazy, rude awakening.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Every kid that I help place in college or every kid that goes and plays college baseball that I know, they.
[00:27:27] Speaker C: All say the same thing, man. It's hard.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: It's a business, right?
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Is this hard? Because that coach that recruited you is.
[00:27:36] Speaker C: Not the same coach that's coaching you.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: Remember that one, too.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: Tell them a little bit more about that, Scott.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: So that coach that's recruiting you, oh, he's such a great man. He's so down to earth. He's so this, he's so that.
[00:27:48] Speaker C: Listen, his job depends on winning and losing.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: So when you get there and you're losing, your team's losing. He is not a nice man.
[00:27:55] Speaker C: Don't get me wrong.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: He loves you. He cares about you. You know, most coaches are amazing, but his job depends on winning and losing.
[00:28:03] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:28:04] Speaker C: He doesn't care about you personally, doesn't.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Care about your feelings, nor will he ever care about your feelings, nor do they communicate with you very much. I'll never forget this. I go, well, what's the coach saying?
[00:28:15] Speaker C: Nothing.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: What do you mean, nothing? This was a, like, this was a very learned, big learning experience for me.
[00:28:22] Speaker C: What do you mean, nothing? No, I just, you know, just tells me where to go each day. I'm the bullpen catcher right now.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Well, did you ask why you're the bullpen catcher? Did you ask if what you can do not to be the bullpen catcher?
[00:28:33] Speaker C: No, I'm afraid to ask that, you.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: Know, well, I go, how are you supposed to know what you're.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Well, so then I end up telling.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Him, this is what you need to do.
[00:28:41] Speaker C: That coach that recruited you, that nice guy that is telling you great, how great you are.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: You go over four, three games in a row, you ain't great anymore.
[00:28:51] Speaker C: Remember that? I love talking to my college players about that because it really is like, coach, you told me, you told me.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: It was going to be like this, and it is exactly like this.
[00:29:03] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: I mean, I had a young man.
[00:29:04] Speaker C: Go up to a school who he.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Was taking hitting lessons from the coach.
[00:29:08] Speaker C: Before he went there. He was like, he's not the same guy. I go, no, he's not.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: He's not going to be the same guy.
[00:29:14] Speaker D: Nope.
[00:29:15] Speaker C: That guy.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: And he ended up transferring, and, you know, all those things. But, you know, it's hard. It's. I mean, it's hard.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Well, and the. The other part about it and. And probably not talked about enough is when you get to college, not only are you fighting for approval of your coach, but you're also fighting against the players that are there because you got to earn your position. And it's something that they don't really experience in the high school club world because they keep the team so low in numbers.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: There's no such thing as competition anymore.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: Tell me more about that.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: There's no such thing as having to compete. There's. You don't have to compete, man. Like, I try to. I tried to put that into my. Into my play, playing at the high school level. We got to compete. We got to compete. We've got to compete every day at practice. Part of my learning experience as a player played in eight games in four years.
[00:30:12] Speaker C: Well, part of that was I was a horrible practice player.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: They graded every practice in football, so every time I did a drop back, I got graded on my actual drop. Did I do it correctly, then my read? Did I make the right read? And then did I make a good throw?
[00:30:25] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:30:25] Speaker C: And I was horrible.
Now, I knew how to read coverages.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: I understood the game, but I was.
[00:30:32] Speaker C: A bad practice player. And I went in and I asked.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: The coach, what do I have to do to get on the field?
[00:30:37] Speaker C: And his exact words were, you have.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: To become a great practice player. And he showed me my grades compared to the other guys, and I was horrible. I was absolutely horrible.
And so what I try to teach.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: Is, hey, you got to practice hard.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: You got to practice great, and then.
[00:30:51] Speaker C: You play that way.
[00:30:52] Speaker B: Well, I think it's the same thing in baseball and college.
[00:30:54] Speaker C: I think they don't know how to compete in practice.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: They think batting practice is how many.
[00:30:59] Speaker C: Home runs I hit, not hitting the.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Ball hard the other way. And you pulled three balls.
[00:31:03] Speaker C: That's not good.
[00:31:04] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: You know, I had a college coach send me a video of a kid who he said, we've asked him to do his prep steps, every single swing in BP, to do his prep steps defensively and then be ready to play. And look at him, and he sent me the video, and the guy's just standing there. So I make a phone call to the kid, go, what are you doing?
[00:31:21] Speaker C: You know, what are you doing?
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Your coach asks you to do something, you're competing every single pitch in practice. Yeah, we don't teach that anymore. We don't teach that. Hey, if you don't play well, here's a kid who wants to play well, who wants to compete?
[00:31:36] Speaker C: Who wants to.
[00:31:37] Speaker B: It's hard to teach that in a practice situation.
[00:31:40] Speaker C: So you have to create things to teach that. Right.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: Competitiveness, it's a.
[00:31:45] Speaker C: It's.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: It's probably the biggest thing that's, you know, we talk about accountability. The next thing is competitiveness is probably the next thing that's missing in. In our society is competing.
[00:31:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:57] Speaker D: And I.
[00:31:57] Speaker A: And I would say with that is that they don't know how to compete without people being around them. You better be competitive against yourself, because that's really the standard that you're trying to set as much as you, Scott, and you and I could never compete against one another. We look different, we sound different. We. We do things differently. Like, we could get on a field and compete. But in my mind, I'm competing against myself all the time because I want to be the very best version of me and not have to worry about what you're doing because I'm going to practice better than you because I'm the best practice player in my own mind. And I think people are lacking in the ability to be. Able to vision how to be great when it comes to self confidence and then work.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: And again, it's not that. It's not that the kids don't want to do it. It's not that the kids don't. Don't want to be great. It's not that the kids don't. It's having enough people around them telling them they need to do this, this, this, and this.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: I tell my parents all the time, like, this is. This is part of my meeting every year, and I stole it from Jim Tracy. Jim Tracy, the old Rockies manager, who actually is from my hometown.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: He said when he got the Rockies job, this is a. This is a do good league, not a try hard league. And I tell my parents that every.
[00:33:13] Speaker C: Year, this is a do good, not try hard.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: So when your son strikes out three.
[00:33:18] Speaker C: Times and makes two errors in the.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Field, please don't get in the car with him and say, oh, you tried really hard today. You played really hard today.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: That, you know, it's okay, because it's not.
[00:33:28] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:33:29] Speaker B: Say, what are we going to do to get better? Do we need to take more ground balls. Do we need to go hit more? Do we need to do this? What do we need to do so that that doesn't happen again?
[00:33:38] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:33:38] Speaker C: You know, and I tell parents that, and it's hard.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: That's hard for them to swallow.
[00:33:42] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: Well, when you hope that the. The players are saying that in the car, not the parents, but I think.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: We enable our kids.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Tell me more, kids. We enable our kids. And I've got. I've caught myself doing this, you know? It's okay. It's not okay. Let me tell you something. The loss I had on Thursday, this week.
[00:34:00] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: Probably one of the hardest losses I've taken in a large, long time. Because I could have done better.
[00:34:05] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: I could have been a better coach. I could have made some better decisions. I could have stopped the bleeding earlier, but I made decisions that were hard, decisions that didn't work out. And that happens sometimes as a coach. We've all been there, right?
[00:34:18] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: But as I'm leaving the park, I had a parent.
[00:34:22] Speaker C: It's okay, coach. I didn't.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: I didn't say anything, but I wanted to say. I wanted to turn and say, no, it's not okay. Yeah, this is not okay. It's not acceptable for us to be.
[00:34:32] Speaker C: To.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Not the standards that we have as a team, as a group, players and coaches. We did not meet them today, and it's not okay.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Yeah. The standard of excellence is critical.
[00:34:41] Speaker B: I think, as parents, we just want to be there for our kids.
We want them. Tell them it's okay, and it's all right. And it's okay to tell them that it's not okay.
[00:34:51] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: I think that's hard for parents to do. Hey, it's not okay the way we played today. It's not okay the way you played today. It's not okay the way the team played today. It's not okay the way coach didn't.
[00:35:03] Speaker C: Coach great today. I'm accountable as anybody else.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: Of course, like, I gotta be honest with you. I got into the kids after the game, but I got into myself, too. I said, and I didn't do my job.
And I said, and that stops right now, I think. I love my parents at Lutheran. I love their great people. They're tremendous people. And I hope to God that I, you know, most of them I will stay in touch with way after their. Their kids are not in the program, because that's one of my favorite things about coaching, is the relationships. I hope our parents, and I hope parents of kids start to go, you know what?
[00:35:34] Speaker D: Hey, we got to get better.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: If you want this dream of playing college baseball, this isn't acceptable. And I don't know how that happens, either. Trust me, I've been thinking about that one for a long time.
[00:35:46] Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you, though, Scott, and again, you're. You're on both sides of this, but when you don't know the importance of winning every single game, it's hard, you know? And so for athletes, they're going, well, this is game 94 for me this year. And, like, this just doesn't mean much to me. And, you know, when you think about a high school coach, they've got 23 games to figure it out, and that's in the state of Colorado. I'm sure it's a lot. It's not a lot. Yeah. And, and league play matters, and winning your league matters, and doing all those things are really, really important. But if you have these two different opposing things, one is, well, we're going to go play the best. We're probably going to get crushed a little bit, but then we'll come back and we're going to play in an easier tournament. We're going to run through that one. And you try to build a schedule that makes sense that way. But then you get to this high school season, it's like, no, no, no, we got to win every one of these games. And if you don't, we're going to be a three seed. And for a three seed, we're going to play the very best team in the state of Colorado before we get to the state championship game. And you don't want to be there. You don't want to do that.
[00:36:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: Trust me, it is a very fine line, and it is. I am on both sides of it. You know, in the summer, you're just playing. And I think the summer, and I don't want to say this the wrong way, but I think the summer, to me, needs to be about you as a player. I know that that sounds really bad, but you need to put yourself in a position to where you're going to get better, and you.
[00:37:18] Speaker C: I don't want to say games don't matter, because they do.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: We always want to win.
[00:37:23] Speaker D: Always.
[00:37:23] Speaker B: Of course, nobody. Nobody likes losing.
[00:37:26] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:37:26] Speaker B: But I want to say the priority has changed in the summer and back in the day. You know this about me. When I was first coaching those chaos.
[00:37:33] Speaker C: Teams, I wanted to win the Connie.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Mac state championship area. We don't even have that league anymore.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: Like, there's not a Connie Mac state championship anymore.
[00:37:40] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:37:41] Speaker C: So.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: So there's all championships.
[00:37:42] Speaker C: Or it's a championship every weekend of.
[00:37:46] Speaker B: And no, nobody cares who won the mountain high 15 U. C. You know.
[00:37:53] Speaker C: Prep, whatever it is, nobody cares who won that.
[00:37:57] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:37:58] Speaker C: Right. So we're not playing. We used to play for trophies.
We're not playing for trophies anymore.
[00:38:04] Speaker B: We're playing for ourselves.
[00:38:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:38:06] Speaker C: Which I understand to an extent, of course. And it's why I love the high school season so much. Like, it's why I love it and.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Why, you know, even though I got out of it for a couple years, I wanted to get back in because I missed that playing for something.
[00:38:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: And there's nothing like representing your school.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: There is nothing like representing your school there.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: You can't.
[00:38:27] Speaker C: You can't.
[00:38:27] Speaker B: You can win a Connie Mac state championship. You can win a WWE.
[00:38:32] Speaker D: Whatever.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: I mean, I've got a big ring from wearing a WW win in the WWBA World Series with our. Our 14 U team in a fall. That ring, I. It's a paperweight.
[00:38:43] Speaker C: It's a paperweight.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: But my state championship rings.
[00:38:45] Speaker C: Oh, man, those are. Those. Those mean something.
[00:38:49] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:38:49] Speaker C: And so I think you're right.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: I think it's hard because it's about development or something getting better. It's about being on a team that.
[00:38:56] Speaker C: You can hone your craft and you can get better.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: So we have lost that competitiveness.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: Well, and I think that's the key to this conversation, is.
[00:39:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Get stinking competitive with yourself and find ways to compete every single day. And if that means that coach isn't going to be competitive during practice, find a way to be competitive anyway, get nasty. And you and I talked about this prior to, but we have seen some really great players, and all of them had something in common, and it was the fact that you couldn't. You couldn't outpace them. They were going to be more competitive than you every single time, regardless if they were over four, which rarely happened. And then part two to that was they were most likely going to be three for four. Four with maybe a couple of home runs on the deck.
[00:39:44] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: And the other part of that is.
[00:39:46] Speaker C: I don't think it's in your DNA. Like, I don't think.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: I don't think you're either born with it or you're not.
[00:39:51] Speaker C: I think it's something that you as a player or us as coaches, it's.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: How you're brought up.
[00:39:58] Speaker D: Yeah. It's.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: It's what you did growing up.
[00:40:01] Speaker C: Like, I had two older brothers.
[00:40:03] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: My dad used to make my oldest.
[00:40:05] Speaker C: Brother Jim take me to the YMCA.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: I had to go with him. I was six years younger than him. My brother hated it with a passion.
[00:40:12] Speaker C: But my dad knew if I went.
[00:40:14] Speaker B: To the gym and I was playing against those older guys, that I was going to turn into something like I was going to get after it.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: Because that fight or flight, at that point, it's either you're fighting your butt.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: Up or you're quitting.
[00:40:23] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:40:24] Speaker B: And quitting wasn't an option in my house.
[00:40:26] Speaker C: We.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: We haven't put that competitive that. I mean, when we lost a game.
[00:40:31] Speaker C: When we were in high school, nobody.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: Talked to the bus ride home.
[00:40:34] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:40:35] Speaker C: Nobody spoke.
[00:40:36] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:40:36] Speaker C: Now they're on their phones.
[00:40:38] Speaker D: They're.
[00:40:39] Speaker B: You know, there's a great video of Augie Garrido out there, you know, and unfortunately, cuss is about 25 times in it.
[00:40:45] Speaker C: No doubt.
[00:40:46] Speaker B: But there's a great video of Augie Garrido talking about, in ten minutes, you guys will forget about this. And I have to live with this loss the rest of my life.
[00:40:53] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: That's how important it was to him.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: After game, locker room talk. I'll never forget that video.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And I always felt like that's kind.
[00:41:01] Speaker C: Of who I am.
[00:41:03] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:41:03] Speaker C: You know, as a player, I was that way. My girlfriend knew if I lost a.
[00:41:08] Speaker B: Football game on a Friday night, I'd.
[00:41:09] Speaker C: See her at church on Sunday morning. Don't call me. Don't.
[00:41:12] Speaker B: I'm not going out for pizza.
[00:41:14] Speaker C: I'm not. Nothing. Right.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: Like, that's who I was.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:17] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:41:17] Speaker C: And, you know, good, bad or indifferent.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: Did I put too much emphasis on it? Probably.
[00:41:21] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:41:22] Speaker C: Right. You know?
[00:41:23] Speaker A: Probably.
[00:41:23] Speaker B: But I would rather be putting too much emphasis on it than not enough.
[00:41:26] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:41:27] Speaker A: It's interesting. Yeah. Going. Going with that for just a second. I have found the place where players are competitive, and it's actually in video games.
[00:41:36] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: And I used to hate the idea of them playing video games because what a waste of time.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: I still do, just so you know.
[00:41:44] Speaker D: And.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: And I found a careful balance inside of it. I used to do a Bible study at my house, and we would do a Bible study, and they asked, could we bring our PlayStation over and could we play a game? And I'm like, yeah, sure, let's do it. So three of them brought them over. We had televisions all over the place, and they are as competitive as I've ever seen. And I'm going okay, so it's there. How do I, how do I transfer this, the, the ability to the desire to want to win in playing this video game over to the baseball field. And we had a huge, long conversation.
[00:42:20] Speaker B: About that conversation to have it, well.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: It turned into something great because they were laughing along the way of like, we do want to win. And it's like, well, do you want to win on the baseball field?
[00:42:30] Speaker D: Well, of course we do.
[00:42:32] Speaker A: How come I don't see this when you're, when you're playing video games? How come I don't experience this on the baseball field? And they're like, well, we just, we don't know if we're allowed to act this way. And I'm like, I just want to see something.
No doubt. No doubt.
[00:42:48] Speaker B: Yeah, you're right. That's a, that's a great point. I've never looked at it that way. I mean, I think video games with us, competitiveness was going outside when we were.
[00:42:57] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: Like, I go out at eight. Eight a. I mean, and I know everybody says this, but it's true. My neighborhood was my competition.
[00:43:05] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:43:06] Speaker C: My neighborhood was my competition. Man.
[00:43:08] Speaker B: We, it didn't matter what it was. We probably had a bike race a day.
[00:43:13] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: We probably played flag football or tag.
[00:43:17] Speaker C: Football in the backyard every single day of the summer.
[00:43:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: It was competitive.
[00:43:22] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:43:23] Speaker C: And in today's world, they don't do that. So maybe the video games are the competitive front.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: It's the one thing I've found where they all agree, where it's like, if you tell me you're gonna beat me and MLB the show, let's go play right now. We found the place where we can start to teach competitiveness. How do we transfer it now?
[00:43:43] Speaker B: Okay, that's awesome.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: So maybe that can be helpful.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Did you figure out a way to transfer it?
[00:43:48] Speaker A: We started to create these competitive actions, but what we did with it was every time you finished, you had to shake their hand and say, thanks for competing.
And so what I did, what I didn't want them to do was hate each other afterwards.
It was like my biggest worry of competition.
[00:44:08] Speaker B: Right?
[00:44:08] Speaker D: That's it.
[00:44:09] Speaker A: That's it. And so every single time. And there were guys that wanted to walk away and it was like, no, no, no, we're not doing that. Look, the guy in the eye shake their hand and say, thanks for competing. But what we learned along the way was these kids desire to be gritty and nasty, but you have to draw it out of them.
[00:44:26] Speaker C: It's them.
[00:44:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:27] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: And so that's what I did. And that was the closest thing that I experienced to these kids.
Not, not that they didn't want to win. I get that. They all want to win. How do you draw it out of them? How do you get that side of, like, I'm going to go home and I'm going to do it a hundred more times. We started to see it when we started to get that nastiness out of.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: I really like, I'm not sure we could do that today in today's game, but I like it. And I, you know, there's probably variations we can do.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: Things like that.
[00:44:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:44:56] Speaker B: I mean, the biggest thing these kids want to win.
[00:44:59] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:59] Speaker B: These kids that play the game we have about things we need to do. One thing I will say about the state of Colorado.
[00:45:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:45:05] Speaker C: This state has tremendous baseball players. No question.
[00:45:11] Speaker B: This state has grown in the game of baseball so much.
[00:45:15] Speaker C: This, these young men today that play.
[00:45:18] Speaker B: The game are so good and so.
[00:45:21] Speaker C: Talented and so much better than I.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: Ever was as a player, period.
[00:45:28] Speaker C: And period.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Like, it's, it's incredible how far this game of baseball has come in the state of Colorado.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: Like, I say this to our players all the time. I don't want you to think of us as a 418. Like, I want you to think of us as competing with the, with the valors and the, and the, and the mountain vistas and the, and the Regis teams and chaparral. And like, I want you to know that I believe you can compete with those teams and you can play with those teams. It's why I play the toughest schedule I can play. Don't care about wins and losses.
[00:45:59] Speaker C: I do.
[00:46:00] Speaker B: You know, but I don't. I want to have them compete at the highest level they can compete at.
[00:46:05] Speaker C: They, do they compete?
[00:46:07] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:46:07] Speaker B: Do they win all the time?
[00:46:09] Speaker C: No, that's not the, that's not the point.
[00:46:11] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:46:11] Speaker C: Like I said, the college coaches aren't.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: Asking, what, what was your record of your high school team?
[00:46:15] Speaker C: They're not asking that.
[00:46:17] Speaker B: Yes, they're asking, they're asking these coaches, does he compete?
[00:46:20] Speaker C: Can he handle adversity?
[00:46:22] Speaker B: How are his parents?
[00:46:23] Speaker C: How are, how is he, what kind.
[00:46:25] Speaker B: Of grades is he? That, those are the things that they never once asked. Well, what, what's your record?
[00:46:29] Speaker C: Is he on a good team? Never once.
[00:46:32] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:46:32] Speaker A: Yeah. That's exactly right. And I, and I think you hit that hard. I would say, in general, athletes are better than they've ever been across the country. And we're seeing people throw harder than they've ever thrown, hit further than they've ever hit and run faster than they've ever ran, which is, I mean, it's a whole different conversation. But I think that's why injuries are on the rise, is because they're doing things that we never did and weren't able to do and so on and so forth. I agree completely. On the positive side, the game is better than it's ever been. When you go out and you watch a high school game or a club game and you see guys throwing 94, 96 miles an hour, your eyes are just as big as could be because you didn't see it until you got to college.
[00:47:15] Speaker B: And there's a guy throwing 100 miles an hour into the springs.
[00:47:18] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
[00:47:20] Speaker B: And he's incredible.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: No doubt.
[00:47:23] Speaker D: No doubt.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: I am in awe of our athletes.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:47:27] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:47:27] Speaker B: And that is a, that is a, that's a tip of the cap to the athlete, but to the parents as well, of course. And parents have spent more money than they've ever spent on kids getting in the weight room, getting with trainers, getting hitting lessons, getting pitching lessons. Get like money is my company is recession proof my business.
[00:47:48] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:47:48] Speaker B: And somebody said, how? Why? And I said, because no matter how much money we don't have, we will pay for our kids to do what they love.
[00:47:56] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:47:57] Speaker C: It's not a knock.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: I'm not trying to be anything. I'm just saying it's. It's how much we love our kids.
[00:48:01] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:48:02] Speaker C: Right.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: We love our kids and we want them to succeed. And we're going to do everything in our power as parents to give them the tools to help them succeed.
[00:48:09] Speaker C: To succeed.
[00:48:10] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:48:11] Speaker B: The whole point of this podcast is one of the tools is a little bit of letting them fail.
[00:48:16] Speaker C: Right.
[00:48:17] Speaker B: Letting them learn on their own, letting coaches coach.
[00:48:19] Speaker C: That's a hard one.
[00:48:20] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a hard one in these.
[00:48:22] Speaker C: In the, in this day and age, right? Yep.
[00:48:25] Speaker B: Parents, you're allowed to second guess coaches.
[00:48:27] Speaker C: That's what's great about this game.
[00:48:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:29] Speaker B: Oh, it's the greatest thing about this game. Like, I know for a fact. I know for a fact because you know how parents are. I got a phone call the other day right after the game when I made some decisions that, that I made a month from now. I didn't make the decisions based on that game. I made the decision, what am I going to do a month from now.
[00:48:44] Speaker C: When we're in the playoffs?
[00:48:45] Speaker B: Who am I going to use in this situation, right. I made the decision that way.
[00:48:49] Speaker C: But I had parents up in the.
[00:48:51] Speaker B: Stands going, I wouldn't have pinched hit that kid. I wouldn't have put that kid in on the mound.
[00:48:55] Speaker C: I wouldn't have.
[00:48:56] Speaker B: I'm going to call Scott. I'm going to.
[00:48:57] Speaker C: Call me.
[00:48:58] Speaker B: I'll tell you, you know, it's great.
[00:49:01] Speaker C: That's what baseball.
[00:49:02] Speaker B: It's one of the greatest things. I sit there and watch a Rockies game. My second guess all the time, right? Like, that's what we do.
[00:49:07] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: Yeah. It's what makes sports so fun is everybody has their own version of how things would be done. And at the end of the day, you start to appreciate what coaches or managers, the decisions that they have to make, because it's not easy in those moments. And you are thinking differently in those moments.
[00:49:25] Speaker B: And, yeah, I'm thinking about. And I'll give you a great example. Darren Schultes. I don't know if you remember Darren Schultes, now, the softball coach at Heritage High School, really doing a tremendous job. If there's a guy that I'm so proud of him.
[00:49:39] Speaker C: He's a.
[00:49:40] Speaker B: He's a great husband, he's a great father. He is incredible coach, and he's so good for kids. But his senior year, we're playing mountain.
[00:49:48] Speaker C: Vista, and he's pitching.
[00:49:50] Speaker B: I leave him in a game longer.
[00:49:51] Speaker C: Than I probably should have, and we.
[00:49:53] Speaker B: Lose the game two to one. And I had somebody come up to me and go, don't you know your players? He should have taken them out. He was tired.
And I'm like, okay, you know, this is me back in the day. And I just let it go. I mean, I was pretty fired up anyway, but I let it go. Later on that year, Darren Schultes comes in against Fort Collins in a sweet 16 game with the bases loaded. Nobody out. Goes 30 on a hitter, ends up striking him out. We win the game to go to the elite eight. I correlated the two. Him going through what he went through early in the year helped him win that game in the playoffs. That's what we do as coaches. We think that far ahead when parents are questioning us, and it's just got to let it go and be like, they don't understand what we're trying to do.
[00:50:32] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: And that's okay.
[00:50:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, it is.
[00:50:35] Speaker B: It's not their job to understand what we're trying to do.
[00:50:37] Speaker A: We are trying to create experiences, but we are also trying to win games, and we're also trying to raise young men and all those things all together. Of course people are going to question the things that come along. The true hope of the podcast is that you bring it all together so that they go, oh, I've never thought about it like that before. So you're, you coming on and explaining some of this is really helpful for parents, I think parents.
[00:51:01] Speaker B: I don't. Parents are watching this and they're listening.
[00:51:04] Speaker C: We're.
[00:51:04] Speaker B: I don't bash parents.
[00:51:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:51:06] Speaker B: I don't. I don't. I get it. I get it. They love their kids. When their kids are hurting, they're hurting. They try to fix it.
[00:51:14] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:51:15] Speaker B: I would ask parents, and we have a good 24 hours rule at Lutheran. I'm sure most coaches have that rule, right? 24 hours. I would hope that when you really sit back and think about it, you.
[00:51:25] Speaker C: Go, you know what?
I'm just gonna let my son figure this out.
[00:51:29] Speaker B: Because they're smart kids.
[00:51:31] Speaker C: Yeah, they are smart.
[00:51:33] Speaker B: And if you've done. If you've done your job as a parent, most parents do a great job raising their. I mean, they do. We have great, great kids all over this place. Most parents will go and most kids will figure it out on their own and go, you know what? Need to do something better.
[00:51:48] Speaker C: You know, as long as the I.
[00:51:49] Speaker B: Coach is communicating, saying, this is what I need you to do.
[00:51:51] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:51:52] Speaker B: I can tell you, I've watched it firsthand.
[00:51:54] Speaker C: Kids know. Kids know who should be playing. Kids know who should be. Be doing what they know.
[00:52:00] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:52:00] Speaker B: And if you just communicate with your.
[00:52:02] Speaker C: Kid, he'll tell you, well, mom, I.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: Mean, this kid's playing better than me right now, dad. This kids. I know you. I know you. And they're afraid to tell their parents that they really are.
[00:52:15] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: Because parents sometimes are living vicariously through their kid, no doubt.
[00:52:19] Speaker C: Right. And.
[00:52:20] Speaker B: And that's okay, too.
[00:52:21] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:52:21] Speaker B: When my daughter was hitting three pointers, man, did I get into it. I loved it with all. I loved it with all the passion. And, you know, it was like, that's my girl. That's my girl. You know? Like, I get that part of it. I do.
[00:52:33] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:52:34] Speaker B: Let them grow up. Let them become men. And baseball is the greatest sport in.
[00:52:39] Speaker C: The world to teach that, love that.
[00:52:41] Speaker B: And guys and mentors like. Like I've had Mark Johnson, Clint Savaris at slammers, was one of my men, is one of my mentors. I just. Those guys have been helping kids for.
[00:52:52] Speaker C: So long that I pray that one.
[00:52:54] Speaker B: Day somebody will look at me and go, he did it right. You know, he did it the right way because he cared about the kids.
[00:53:00] Speaker D: That's it.
[00:53:00] Speaker B: And do I want to win? Absolutely. But, man, do I love these, those kids so much. I love them. They bring joy to my house. They bring joy to my life. They make me happy every day. And I tell them all the time, a bad day on the baseball field is better than a good day at work.
[00:53:14] Speaker C: Even when we have it bad, Brian, we don't. And I think.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: I think coaches, when we learn, it's less about us and more about the players and more about the relationships.
[00:53:24] Speaker C: The rest of it kind of takes care of itself.
[00:53:26] Speaker D: Right?
[00:53:27] Speaker C: You know, we have a saying at.
[00:53:28] Speaker B: Lutheran for our baseball program. It's God family school baseball. God family school baseball. God family school baseball.
[00:53:34] Speaker C: And if we, as a family, that that way, and are we doing things to glorify God?
[00:53:39] Speaker B: Are we doing things to glorify our family?
[00:53:41] Speaker C: Are we doing things to represent our school and are we doing things to.
[00:53:45] Speaker B: Represent this baseball team?
[00:53:46] Speaker C: Then good things happen, and we don't have to worry about it.
[00:53:50] Speaker A: So, Scott, thanks so much for being on the show today.
I'm always blessed whenever I'm around you and thankful for all that you're doing. Again, I know I opened the show this way, but you have impacted a lot of lives through your career in baseball and even the relationship you have with your dad, with your dad being on the field with you every single day, it shows the impact that sports have had on your life. And I know that you are pushing that down to the next generation of people who are now becoming coaches or players that are within your program. So, so very thankful for all that you're doing. I know Lutheran is lucky to have you. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with podcast listeners of my show.
[00:54:32] Speaker B: Well, I will tell you this, man. I tell you, I'm proud of a lot of the guys that have played for me and that I know. I can't tell you how proud I am of you, Brian, and what you've done. And, you know, the man that you've become and everything that you represent is what's great about sports and great about schools and teaching and mentoring. And to me, this podcast, there's a lot of podcasts out there. This one is important.
And not only because there's a little bit of entertainment involved in it, there's. But the knowledge that you're bringing to parents and players and even coaches. I watch it for that reason because I want to learn and how. You're a lot younger than me, but I can learn. I learn from you weekly, from your podcast, and I appreciate you, and I thank you for having me on.
[00:55:19] Speaker A: Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it. Families, players, coaches, all alike. As you know, we finished the episode the same way. Go do the work. Thanks for watching. We'll see you again next week.
