More Than The Scoreboard
Coach Corbin Smith is a former FBS and Head High School Football Coach with 3 decades of coaching experience. He is the Founder, Host and Producer of "More Than The Scoreboard". Coach Smith speaks to athletic coaches about how they Build their Culture, Develop their athletes & Build their Teams. Focusing on Team Building, Character, Leadership, Offensive Mindset and Mental Resilience.
More Than The Scoreboard
#74 Jeff Bollnow
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Jeff Bollnow is the Head Football Coach at Tanque Verde HS in Arizona. Going into his 4th year, Coach Bollnow has raised the bar since he has been at the helm. Jeff's approach to multi sport athletes, the weight room and the importance of the prior coach, Jay Dobyns', foundation that he laid for the success of the program. Great Listen!
Coaches and athletic directors, it's Corbin Smith with MTTS Sports Group. Let me ask you a quick question. What are the biggest challenges that you face when it comes to leadership development and culture sustainability? At MTTS Sports Group, we have created a system through leadership speaking and training, staff alignment seminars, as well as culture seminars that address those issues. We also offer a six-hour fully immersive leadership stress test for your teams called the Tour Crucible. If you are interested at all, go to www.mttssportsgroup.com and let us know how we can help. Enjoy the podcast. So I'm excited to have you on, and I'd really appreciate it. I need to get more Tucson guys on. And you know, we've had a couple on, but but not enough. And being a young coach and being a first-time head coach is pretty cool. So yeah, yeah. Um for sure. Congratulations too. Yeah, thank you. It's been a ride. Are you in are you in your going into year three?
SPEAKER_01So I've completed year three, I'm going into year four.
SPEAKER_02As a head coach? Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Time flies. Wow.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'll go ahead and introduce you so everybody knows who you are. Um, Jeff Bulno is the head football coach at Tankaverdi High School in Tucson. And uh I've known your I've known your dad for quite some time. We met, gosh, seems like if I was at Mesquite, it was 10 years ago or so. I think I was doing the Larry Smith. I think you're nailed it. Larry's I think you nailed it. Yeah, the Larry Smith coaches coaching academy. I think that's how we met initially. Yeah. Um, you've been a lot of places, been at Sarita, been at um Cienega. Yep. And now your old head coach is your your new athletic director, right? Or is he the principal?
SPEAKER_01No, athletic director. Yeah, we just we just wrapped that up. He's gonna be our AD next year. So super exciting.
SPEAKER_02Legend in the high school community, coaching community.
SPEAKER_01It's my favorite boss, you know, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I'm gonna tell you what, and and you people in Tucson schools in Tucson do it right because, you know, and this question has come up, I've asked it a lot, and we've had discussions on it. Um, and Tucson still does it, it's still that smaller community, so I think they understand it. It's more like the Midwest scene where all where most of the administrators, specifically athletic directors, are former coaches. I don't care what sport, but they're former coaches. So being a coach with an athletic director as a former coach is it's a pretty big deal. And uh, you know, I know you feel blessed because you know him, and and um, but just tell me, because he didn't hire you there, Tanka Verde. Um, so your previous AD was the guy that hired the person that hired you, were they a former coach?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he was a basketball guy and he played professional basketball. It was his name's Gary Lewis. It was awesome working with Gary as well. Um, yeah, I've been I've been extremely blessed and spoiled with the ADs that I have.
SPEAKER_02That's um did you I mean, was it important to you because Tanka Verdi is a job. I mean, obviously, I you know they used to be really, really good, great program a long time ago. And then I went downhill, and um then a friend of both of ours um came in and and um was was the head football coach and did a pretty good job, but but um when Jay retired from coaching and resigned from coaching, um you know, they had someone before you. So what's what have you encountered there that you weren't expecting, and especially being a head first-time head coach, because everybody can prepare you. Let me let me just first say this your father, Kirby, um he's been an official in the AIA forever and uh highly regarded, one of the best of the best, and and I have an immense amount of respect for him. I know you do too, and and you come from a great family, and um you know, so I just wanted to throw that out there. But and I know that he prepared you, and I know others prepared you. Um, but what what did you not anticipate, even with all the preparation and uh all the mentors and stuff like that? What could what did you not prepare for that you were gonna encounter there at Tanka Verdi?
SPEAKER_01I feel like I feel like there's so many ways you can answer that question. Like, I think you have this idea of how it's supposed to go in your head, and then when the rubber meets the road, you can start recognizing issues with logistics or different uh facilities or different ways things bottleneck that you just can't really prepare for until you're in that environment, right? Like, even as a strength and conditioning guy, my weight room is ran different based on how big it is and how many racks I have and the equipment we have. Well, it's the same with taking over a program. Like, what's what's on the ground floor? Like, how many speed flex helmets do we have? And there's stuff like you just have to get in there. Like, you're just gonna have to see, like, pick up that rock and look what's underneath it. Um, and I feel like there was a ton of that stuff of like uncovering like process issues, or like this process isn't gonna work here, or like we don't have a good washer and dryer. How are we gonna get jerseys washed and like solving like that where you're not even really thinking about it when you say yes when you take that job? Um, but when you get in there, it becomes apparent that you're gonna have a bunch of uh like little things to clean up to help make your system work where you're at. And um the other thing that I really kind of had to struggle with and deal with is like my feelings on everything. Like I was the the head of the snake now, so I had to be a little more controlled with how I felt about things or how I reacted to things. And it was a little bit like a baby rattlesnake trying to figure out like when I got upset, like what level do I really need to get upset here? And it's different than being an assistant. So I think that was one thing that caught me off guard was like the feeling of like, oh no, I am the head guy now. I have to carry myself a little bit differently, I have to coach a little bit differently. Being disciplined by the head coach is different than being disciplined by an assistant, and like I had to learn that as I went, to be honest.
SPEAKER_02So, how did you uh I mean, and and you kind of you said it all, all the things that assistant coaches don't think about, right? Um, unless maybe you're at a smaller school and you're really in tune with the head coach. I mean, all the little things um that have nothing to do with being on the field coaching football or scheming guys or game planning or stuff like that. So your first year you went nine and three. Yes, correct? Yes, sir. Uh made the playoffs second in your region. I think you went five and one in your region.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we lost the Wilcox seven to zero.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a tough one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_02And then you came back your second year, went six and four, still another winning season. And then last year you guys won eleven and three. Yes, sir. Right? Yes, sir, which is incredible. Um, did you play in the state championship game?
SPEAKER_01Played in the semifinals.
SPEAKER_00We actually played in our semifinal at McClintock. Did you really? Yeah, so it was kind of your old stomping draft. Like that field? Oh, it was awesome. It was beautiful.
SPEAKER_02So we between me and the AD, that's a story for another time, but we we had a great time. I mean, we we went back and forth on what that field should look like and um designing it and the coordination with the end zones both saying one thing so they were mirrored, and then same with the sidelines and and just the colors, but you should have seen how that thing was put in. It was incredible. I I never knew it. But it's awesome. So you go, you go 11 and 3, you win your region. Um, and I don't know if they've, you know, that's that's 26 games in three years that you guys have won. You know when the last time that's happened was? No. Either do I, but it's been a long time, hasn't it? Yeah, yeah, it has. What what have you done specifically when you got there? Um, what did you do to really get the kids to buy in to what you were what you were doing, you know, from a cultural standpoint and standards and leadership and all that kind of stuff?
SPEAKER_01Like I I want to be I want to be clear on this. I had some really great kids that were ready for football. And all I had to do was like line line them up and give them the tools they needed, and they were they were ready to be competitive. Like Jay Dobbins had done a great job of building those seniors into leaders that when I walked in the door, they're ready to go and they could acknowledge they they had uh you know enough knowledge and background that they needed to get them in on board with what we were doing if they were going to be successful. So great group of seniors to to start off my first year. That really helped clear the path on that culture stuff. Um I think I think the hard part is is like the culture kind of ebbs and flows, like it's not this huge concrete piece, it's something that we're working on every day, right? And working through feelings, events, whatever, and like how does this apply to our culture? And that I I still argue we're building that culture, we're not there yet. You know what I mean? And uh I guess my philosophy at Tankaverde to to kind of pivot where they were at football-wise. So when we first got there, zero playoff wins, right? Now we're four and two in the playoffs, or four and three, I guess, in the playoffs, which that's that's awesome, right? We had zero region titles, now we have one region titles. There's some good things happening, but on a day-to-day basis, I know that we can continue to get better and clean some things up. And um, I'm like really focused on that right now. Um, when I looked at this school, it was a very small school. It's not necessarily known for athletics, it's actually a highly academic school. We're one of the top performing public schools in all of Arizona. So good, good for you guys. Yeah, like our average ACT is like 26. We have our kids taking the ACT every quarter. Like, we are very academic driven. And then you throw Sabino High School five minutes away, and then Micah Mountain 15 minutes away. And uh, you're not necessarily getting your pick of the litter when it comes to athletes, right? So, what I acknowledged was we have to build an extremely friendly multi-sport type of athletic program for everybody to follow because we need our best athletes playing as many sports as possible if we want to be competitive at a high level. And so, so my thought process wasn't necessarily trying to take football over the top. It was like, how can we build a really healthy athletic experience for all of our kids in hopes that the best athletes will eventually start to play football? That was kind of the philosophy going in. So that's really for you. Yeah, that really started with my weights class. So I'm running uh six periods a day. We do like a general physical preparedness conjugate, whatever you want to call it, weightlifting deal. Um, I spent five years with Steve Schween over at Cienega. So I'm doing a bunch of stuff that he used to do back in the day, and I I really liked and understood. So we're doing that. But the way I have it structured is every class is nine through 12, uh, athletes, non-athletes, like it's all mixed, uh, girls, boys, everything's mixed together, and we just get after it. But what I argue is it allows our multi-sport athletes to stay in a consistent weightlifting program year round. Sure it does. Right. So we can really start to stack bricks in a way that some of the other sports teams can't provide offseason training. If I have a football guy that's doing basketball and we're only lifting after school, well, now that basketball kid's not getting that lift. So I went into school basically with this plan to build an internal strength and conditioning program for our kids. And that meant that I needed to do a mixed class with everybody, so everybody gets it, but it's been good.
SPEAKER_02So I you hit three things. So I'm gonna back up, but I'm gonna come back to the strength and conditioning, and I'm gonna come back to the multi-sport athlete because both of those are things that coaches need to understand. And I think when you get bigger systems at bigger schools, um that's not prioritized. But before I do that, you should have corrected me because I said at the beginning that there was someone else between you, between you and Jay when Jay resigned, retired, and there wasn't. No, it wasn't. You followed Jay Dobbins. Yes, sir. Okay, so let me ask you this because I know you and Jay are friends. And Jay Jay Dobbins, for you guys that don't don't um know him, he played football at U of A back in the 80s, um, played for my dad, um, became a DEA agent, wrote a book. Uh um he's a best-selling author, but he's an amazing, amazing person, amazing man, one of the best people that I've ever known. And so um, and he coached South Point for a long time and then came over. And my question for you is this because I I saw this, I experienced it as a coach, I saw it as a kid, but like when my dad left U of A and went to SC, when he got there, they were on, when he got to U of A, they were on probation. Um, followed Tony Mason, they were paying players, um, got caught, and my dad came in, they got put on probation for what the previous staff had done. But then he leaves and and Coach Tomy comes in, and yeah, yeah, we're yeah, we're back.
SPEAKER_01It had a little split, we're good.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay. Okay. So Coach Tomey comes in after my dad leaves, and it just takes the program, the U of A program, to another level. And Coach Tomey and my dad became really good friends, but um, and then it happened at Missouri. You know, we laid a pretty good foundation, they hadn't won in 13 years. We go in there, we go to two bulls back to back, blah, blah, blah. And and then my dad gets fired, and and Gary Pinkle comes in and takes it to the next level, does a great job. And they were friends as well. And and so how important, because I don't think a lot of people, and you gave Jace a lot of credit, how important was it to have someone like Jay Dobbins at Tanka Verde before you got there to start to lay a foundation um with you know your football players or with just athletes in general? Um because I've been in positions where there wasn't a strong coach before me, and and that hurt, you know. So how important was that?
SPEAKER_01It was huge. Like I I think without I don't think I'm gonna be as successful as I was without those J years. Because with his personality, he is exactly what Tanger Verdi needed to light a fire under that program's butt. Like his like he just had this uh uh personality that attracted so many kids into the Tanker Verdi program, made Tanker Verdi an option again, and then you know, and then I just picked up with that, and then I my system I'm more of a technical dude. Um, like I don't I feel like I I continue to work hard to build relationships with kids, but I'm very technical. And so I don't know if coming in right away and being super technical col uh football guy is gonna get it done at Tankaverdi. So they they needed that the passion of Jay to really set me up to be a little more tactical and what a lot yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, I just wanted to ask your opinion on that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think you can love back to the game for the Tankaverdi Valley, and that really gave us a launching point. I mean, to be as clean cut as well.
SPEAKER_02And you've just taken it from there because it it's listen, the person that follows someone that that kind of starts the rebuild um is as important, if not more important, than the person that starts it. I mean, Dick Tommy was just as important as what my dad did, and same with Gary Pinkwell up Missouri, and and they were the right people to to replace someone that had kind of started that that foundational rebuild. Um all right, multi-sport athletes, because this is a this is a uh it's a big talk, it's a major talking point for me, and it's a major pain point for me too. And uh everywhere I've been, I've always gotten along great with the other head coaches, the other coaches from other sports. Um, I was a multi-sport athlete. I know you were too. All three of my boys, I made sure that they were multi-sport athletes. Um I always encouraged our kids. You know, you can't make it mandatory, but the kids understood that they needed to do something else, um, whether it be volleyball or basketball or track or wrestling or whatever it may be, soccer. Um so the the the the sticking point that I found, I think as football coaches, it's easy for us to promote our kids to be multi-sport athletes, right? Because it's it's 15, 16, 17 weeks where they're in football and they can't do it year-round. You just can't. Um, what I found is you had all these other coaches that I liked and I got along with, and we had these conversations, and they were all about, yeah, multiple, you know, I'm gonna push my kids to play football, this, that, and the other. The only coaches that I ever found that stuck to that were the wrestling coaches. Um, and even at times it was like, hey, the off-season is just as important in wrestling is just as important as in season. How have you and the other coaches at Tanka Verde shared that responsibility to not just say that they're gonna promote multi sport athletes, but really implement that with the other sports? Because like I said, football is easy, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But how do you get the basketball coach on board and the baseball coach and the wrestling coach and all that?
SPEAKER_01So the way I look at it, just to start, right, is football's really a physical development sport, right? If you're bigger, faster, stronger, you're gonna be pretty competitive, right? If you're a little guy, it's harder. That's just the nature of the beast, right? So we're physically development sport. As long as you're getting stronger and faster, we'll teach you what you need from the summer through the season, right? Um baseball, basketball. There's a level of skill to getting that ball in the hoop. There's a level of skill of being able to make contact and hit that, right? The argument is you need to do that all the time if you want to stay good. And so that's where I see the struggle is is the skill-based sports, the very like complicated skill-based sports, like baseball. It's a very hand-eyed sport. They want to hit all the time, right? Year-round. They want to make sure they're hitting and throwing. And uh I support them on that mission, but I think they could they can look at it from a perspective of getting better at football is gonna get them out of some of those movement patterns and maybe keep some of those joints fresher for longer, right? Um, maybe it drives a little bit of hunger. If a kid uh gets a break from something, he might want to do it a little bit more when you when it comes back around. So I've been trying to like push that perspective. I use my weights class as an easy, like you you can just get them in weights class, and then that's one less thing you got to worry about. Like, boom, lifting's taken care of. Um so there's that perspective on it. Um, but it's not without battle, right? And then you have private trainers, yeah, right all that other things, right? And so, like, as the strength guy, I'm sitting there and half the time I'm like, okay, I guess we'll we'll we'll cut back and we'll move that volume back here in our class because it sounds like everybody else is having you run all over the place or lift or whatever, and then we're like, okay, we're we're a dangerous volume territory, we probably need to slow down a little bit. And so looking out for kids with uh with the multi-sport athlete stuff is tough too because everyone wants a piece of a of an athlete, right? They want to help develop their athlete, but that athlete breaks down. So I'm I'm battling all those things, right? I'm not I don't have this figured out whatsoever. Um, but I do uh I acknowledge one conversation that I've had that's I guess a little more gray area, is I don't want to necessarily provide my football kids with out of school football things in the offseason. I I like if I want them to do multiple sports, I can't let them off the hook by providing football year-round, if that makes sense. Right? If I want a kid to play basketball and baseball, if I start doing football practice in January, they're not gonna do that other sport. They're gonna do football, right? So what I did is I'm coaching track right now. I'm leading by example. Like I'm I'm a multi-sport coach. And so that's how I back it up. So I tell, you know, I tell our parents, like from December through April, right? Because spring ball starts at the end of April, December through April, we're focused on our physical development. We're trying to get bigger, faster, stronger, and then we're gonna try to play another sport. Um, I'm gonna argue that like in football, if we play 10 games a year, right? And you are a junior, then you have 10 competitions your junior year, and then 10 competitions your senior year, that's 20 competitions in total. If I really want you to be a high level competitor, we need to get some reps under your belt. So if you're playing basketball, bass, Baseball and football, now you're getting a lot more competitive game reps and you're learning how to manage emotions, you're learning different strategies, you're learning how to um play be a part of a playoff team. And we're getting we're stealing reps from baseball, basketball, and all the other sports um with that philosophy. If you're only doing football, your competitive reps might be pretty low. So when you are the guy, you're in a new world. And I think that's hard for kids. And so I encourage you like go run a track meet because that emotional intelligence is gonna help us on the football field. That competitive experience is gonna help us on the football field. And I just don't think you can get your volume up in football per se. Like, what if you're a backup as a junior? So your senior year's your first real competitive rep. Like, is is that the best situation for us? Probably not. That's why we have JV. And then if we can steal some game reps from basketball, baseball, and all the other things, then man, we're how much better of an athlete are we when we do become that starter? And so that's kind of what I'm trying to pitch.
SPEAKER_02Like take care of the Well, that's that's a great way. That's a great, that's a great perspective. I mean, it's a it's a great way to approach it, the competitive aptitude, you know, not just the the sport, the specific sport aptitude, but the competitive um aptitude. And I know we all talk about it.
SPEAKER_01And like dealing with another coach, like there's multiple different teaching styles, right? Like that's only going to make you better, that experience and that and that exposure. And this is is this is a safe time to do it in your life. I always tell kids I've graduated and I've been working ever since, right? So let's play as many sports as we possibly can while it's a good option for us.
SPEAKER_02What would you um what would you say to coach? Because obviously you're a strength and conditioning guy as well, and you have been for a long time, but there's a lot of uh coaches, and I was always fortunate because I knew that I wasn't like I drew from my own experiences, right? Um, over the course of a long period of time. But there's a lot of coaches that they do the same stuff because it's what they know, and they're not true strength and conditioning guys. So, what would you tell coaches that are you know, head football coaches that that you know acknowledge the fact that they don't have the the knowledge or the repertoire to be a strength guy, but they still run their strength program?
SPEAKER_01That's a great question. I mean, I I've been close with Steve Schwent, who does a like a phenomenal job. He's like the Arizona rep for strength and conditioning coaches. I mean, yep, he's got every letter that you can imagine after his name. Like he's real deal. And so when I compare myself to him, which isn't probably a good thing to do, but when I compare myself to him, I don't even feel like a strength coach. You know what I mean? And so it's like there is that level of understanding that the little knowledge that you might have might be the only knowledge that that kid's getting. And so he does deserve you to be in there and running his program. But also don't be afraid to maybe look to hire a guy that can fill that role for you and free you up to focus on more administrative things as the head guy, and everybody is healthier in that relationship.
SPEAKER_02Does that make sense? Well, I can and yeah, it makes a hundred percent sense. And I can tell you like when I was at McClintock, we had um a woman that was in our PE department after my, I think my second year that got hired hired, her name's Janelle Batt. She's still there as the the dean at McClintock. And um I I mean she was a power lifter, she had, you know, done it all. Extreme athlete and CrossFitter and power lifter and all of it. Extensive amount of knowledge. She had all her certs, all this kind of stuff. And we sat down one day and I said, I want you to write us a program off season during the summer and then in season. And she wrote a program and we would go back and forth and say, Okay, this is what I want. This is kind of what I believe in. I know you're doing all this hypertrophy stuff, which is great, but we don't need it, you know, all the time. You know, so we just kind of went back and forth, and then she developed a plan that our kids got so much stronger and better shape. Um, and so you know, just going piggybacking on what you say. I mean, I you know, if you don't mind, I'll I'll throw your email in the description of the absolutely and have you know guys reach out to you because you know, as head football coaches, that's what we are. If we're not we're not strength and condition of guys, right. Um, some of us, some of us are like you, but I wasn't, and most of us aren't.
SPEAKER_01And so I'm gonna tell you though, the more I do it, it's like the less the less rules I find there are, right? And and like there's some like real hard ones, like, you know, of managing volume and keeping kids safe in that regard. But like from the for the most part, like I think output's what matters. If your kids love what you're doing and they're getting after it and they're high energy and high effort, like that's really what we're solving for, right? And and I think you can argue that there's some different ways to get there. And just having the confidence of knowing what your kids need to be successful and competitive and active, like that's that if you're nailing that, like you're probably in the money. Because even if you have a super technical program, the number one factor is intent, right? So, like the lifter in the program, his intent is gonna determine how successful that program is. If that kid skipping sets, skipping reps, reps, doesn't have the right weight on the bar, it doesn't matter what I program. So I think that that having that relationship with your kids and that buy-in with your kids is step number one. This is an output business, and if we can get you to really want to do it, I think uh that's part of this battle.
SPEAKER_02Well, let me let me expand on that a little bit because I want you to I want you to expand on that. But because we were talking about the weight room, but let's just talk about culture in general and and because I've always kind of subscribed to the 80-20 rule, and I had a mentor um when I was at McClintock tell me he's at Corb, it's not the 80-20, it's more like 2020-60. And people that listen to this have heard this before. 20% of your guys are all in, 20% are just there to wear the jersey, but 60% can go either way. So those are the really the guys that you focus on. So what do you you talked about relationships, but what specifically do you think you do and you encourage and require your coaches to do with that with all your kids, but specifically that 60% to get those kids to truly buy in and be a part of that? Hey, I'm an all-in, whether we win, lose, or draw.
SPEAKER_01Um that's a big question. And I know it is. It's like it's almost like hitting a soft spot. So I'm a perfectionist, okay? So that 20 at the bottom is absolutely killing me. And how do we solve that problem? I still have yet to figure out, right? You know, you want good peer leadership. You you need to know who your your decision makers are, if you will, within the friend group. Um, right? Your your key voices. I think that's really important for culture, is you need to be able to bring in a few guys and have honest, real, face-to-face conversations about this is what I'm perceiving. Am I accurate? What do we need to do to fix it? Like you've got to have those, you've got to ID those people. Like you don't need to tag them captains, but you need to ID your decision makers and the or your trendsetters, if you will. The people that say what's cool. You need to be able to identify those kids in your program and then get those kids to understand the perspective that you have and what you're trying to accomplish and how working together is our best bet of of managing, you know, the whole football world that we're living in.
SPEAKER_02What do you think? What because I know, I mean, like you said, you're a perfectionist, so you got this all designed out. Um, three of your standards, or five, or if you guys have anything specifically, but what what do you if if I were to come in there and or if the kid came in right now and said, Hey, what are the three or four or five standards that that your program lives by? What are those?
SPEAKER_01So I'm working on refining it. So I'm also being a perfectionist, I'm probably a bit of a minimalist. So I'm trying to like, how do I condense it? Yes. So here it is. We're we want to try hard. Trying hard is cool. And then we're gonna be men of integrity. It doesn't matter who's in the room or what room we're in, we're gonna be the same person. And if we can nail those two things, I think everything else is gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_02And all those kids are gonna know that, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're gonna have to hammer it. They're gonna hear me say me integrity a thousand times before the end of April, you know.
SPEAKER_02Good. I I, you know, and that's that's what we've all got stuck in that trap where it's like, you know, okay, X here are the expectations, and there's 10 of them. And you ask the kids, and they can maybe name two or three, and and and then you say, okay, expectations is one thing, but what are our standards? We don't need 10 standards, we need three standards, two standards that that all of our kids know, and then from there they understand men of integrity. Well, what does that look like? What how how is how do I show that as a person and they know what's expected of them when they know what the standard is.
SPEAKER_01And by picking words like integrity, right? Integrity is something that you've probably talked about with your parents or in some other context that you know what that word means, right? But it shows up in all the little things that you're trying to get them to do, anyways. Like, why should we show up on time? Well, because we said we would, and we're men of integrity, so we're gonna show up on time, and like that we say takes care of a lot of things if you umbrella it and package it the right way.
SPEAKER_02That's good, that's good. Um, leadership. Uh how do you guys have your leadership set up? Do you do you have a leadership council? Do you have swim buddies? Do you, I mean, uh how do you guys set that up?
SPEAKER_01I think that's a good question. We don't have anything truly formal, but when you look at the layout, so varsity's for us, it's been anywhere between 30 and 40 kids, right? Two-way football. Um, we have 10 seniors. Generally, our seniors are that group that we work with, right? And we get those seniors on the same page and we go from there. Um, it just shakes out that way. If I was at a bigger school, I might have a different answer for you. And it's not like we don't acknowledge when a sophomore or junior is is a leader, but it tend generally tends to be our seniors, and the groupings are 10 to 12, so it works really well by class.
SPEAKER_02Do you do you um when when you guys uh practice-wise, do you have any traditions that you guys do in the sense, you know, before practice, after practice, middle practice, before a game, that kind of stuff that that you've installed that you think's pretty cool, something you you brought from somewhere else or just always wanted to do?
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's a good question. I'm kind of running through my head of like, because there's stuff you do that you don't even recognize as like, oh, this is different and special. I didn't realize. Um, one thing we started doing this year was so anytime we win a football game, whether it's JV or varsity, they're gonna go sing the fight song, right? So you gotta know the fight song. So one thing we started doing this year was at the end of practices, the part of the break was they had to sing the fight song, right? And so that was cool. Uh eventually they started to see how fast they could sing it. Like once they learned it, it was like, okay, how fast can we sing it until you didn't even know what they were saying anymore? And so that kind of was like, all right, we're we're good on that. But what we did do is after the fight song, was we found somebody to dap up and show some gratitude to. Like maybe it was a teammate that worked you a little bit or helped you with things. Maybe you saw somebody working really hard, but we're gonna go dap them up and take just a second of our day to show some gratitude. And I think that was really helpful for our kids.
SPEAKER_02No, that gratitude is important. We when I the last school I was at in Crisman, we we, you know, we started it from the ground up. And so our first year we were playing with uh mainly freshmen. We played a JV schedule in 3A, and we had you know maybe eight, 10 seniors, but that summer before school even opened up, before the schools even finished being built, we had you know practices, and there were 20, 25 guys here, I think, you know, religiously, and about about 50% of them were LDS. Um and so after the first practice, these kids start coming up to you and they shake you, hey coach, thanks. Shake your hand. Go to every single coach and shook shook every coach's hand. Well, the other kids that that didn't see it, they saw it or didn't initially really recognize it. By the second practice, they started doing the same thing. And then before you know it, all the kids are shaking the coach's hand. So, you know, it just kind of happened and no one planned it, but then that turned into um every coach and every player shakes each other's hand after after any kind of team activity together, yeah. Anything. Yeah, anything. Um, community, it doesn't matter, anything after games. And so it ended up being a circle where the kids were on the inside. They created, they would go around and they would go, you know, this way, and the coaches would be on the outside, and we'd go around the other way. Yeah. And so it it added, you know, just that extra little bit of because my dad had this play, he used to always say, he'd say, you know, check attitude and after effort after every practice. Well, you know that in high school, like by the time the coaches get in the locker room, half the kids are gone. Um, so that allowed us to do that because you know, you could be hard as a coach, you could be getting on a kid, a kid could have had a bad practice, and you're on him pretty much all practice, and you see him, you know, you shake his hand after practice and give him a hug and be like, hey, you're good. We're good. It's okay, you know, everything's fine. Yeah. So um anything else specifically you want to add in here that you think's important that I didn't hit? Because I know there's a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure there's a lot of things, but I'm curious what more we can talk about. What's our next one?
SPEAKER_02Oh, we can talk. Wait, we can talk next hours. What do you think? Let me ask you about hiring coaches. Okay. Um because I think it's I think you know, McClintock had a difficult time hiring guys. And I always went after, you know, people first, and then figured I could coach the coaches on everything else. So how have you gone about in and what are your parameters for hiring coaches? Just just so the coaches that are listening, whether they're head coaches or assistant coaches.
SPEAKER_01Well, so first things first, at Tangoverde, we have four assistants total in the whole program. Okay. So that's a little different feel, right? Like those now hiring is a little different. So let's let's get that on the table first. One of the guys I actually went to elementary school with. So when I first got this job, it was so hard to find assistance. Like being a new head coach was that's the hardest part. Like, you can interview all the people you want, you're gonna have to take chances on guys. Like, that's just what it is. It's all gut feel. Um, unless you really like have a strong crew following you around, that's just what it was. So when I first got in here, I couldn't find anybody. Uh, one of the interviewees for the job that didn't get it, obviously I got the job, was still interested in sticking around. So he was my first hire. Like it was like I met him and I made sure that his his perspective was in line and you know, somewhat alignment with mine. And then uh I was like taking a chance, like, okay, got one guy on the boat, so it's me and him. And then um I ended up getting like a congratulations text from one of my elementary buddies, and then I texted him and I was like, Are you gonna help? And he thought I was joking and I was dead serious. So then I ended up bringing him on because I I I trusted the guy and I was like, I could teach him football. All right, that's two, count it. And then uh we had some other people, but it ended up not working out. So I think like for a moment there, there was three of us, and then as we went, we started Springball with three of us, and then as we went, we picked up guys, right? And it was about you know, again, that first year was like taking chances on people, but once we got rolling it comfortable, I was like, okay, we can do this with three guys, we can do this with four guys, and uh now I'm kind of particular with who I'm hiring and who I'm bringing in. Um, I'm gonna tell you one thing in this round is like I kind of want to know you before I bring you on staff, whether that's I've coached against you, uh, whether it's uh maybe Coach Nugent knows you now that I have that connection, but like there's somebody that's worked with you.
SPEAKER_02Um and then and then there has to be a connection.
SPEAKER_01There has to be something. I mean, that's just where I'm at. Because right now, if I keep things tight, I like I know my staff's solid. And I don't want to bring in outside influences that may negatively impact that if we're good, right? Um, if the program continues to grow, we're gonna have to add bodies. That's just what it is. But the uh the reality for me is fitting in with the staff and not wanting to argue a bunch of things, but really come in and kind of learn our system and and try to help uh teach our system. Like if you're doing those things, that's what I'm looking for.
SPEAKER_02All right. Do you guys have how many total coaches, paid or non-paid, doesn't matter. How many do you just have four? Four.
SPEAKER_01And then I'm the fifth, and we ended up our numbers jumped this year, so we went from 45 to 65. We had a really big our senior class, like the heart of it was all the way through, but then we had a bunch of senior kids that wanted to try it. So we had our senior class exploded to like 24 from that 10 to 12 that I was telling you, right? And then our freshman class was big, so like it hit us on both sides. So we had to kind of work through that with the smaller staff, it was hard. And what we ended up doing was like, okay, we'll do circuits for your blocking and tackling so that way we can make like multiple drills at once, and then we just run like okay, young skill kids go through in this group, uh, old skill kids go in this group, and then young line, old line, and we had our four groups and we would circuit them to get our blocking and tackling and like key skills, and then when we did indie, we would try to just like have the the indie coach make like three branches of each drill and kind of stand further back and maybe have a manager, whatever, make it work, right? Right. And then when it was time for team, I would send these two coaches, you go take the young bucks, you run team over there, and then me and this assistant and the DC will run varsity practice here, and we throw a drone up and we'll just coach it off film.
SPEAKER_02That's how it works. Good. Good. Hey, that's what it's a lot of kids for five coaches, man. Yeah, well, all right. Last question I have for you. You can leave a leave us because when again, going back to when we met, may have been longer than 10 years ago. I think it's 10.
SPEAKER_01I think you're on the money. I think it was 2016.
SPEAKER_02Okay. But how old are you now? 34. 34. So you were 24 and you were coaching. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. Literally. So I did I played D3 football, four-year starter in D3 football. Right. And then uh turned around, and then I actually coached with Andy Litton my first year out of college. I did a year with Andy.
SPEAKER_02I knew that at Mirana.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, Mirana. And then I went to Northern Illinois as a as a quality control GA type guy, did that for a season, and then I linked up with Nugin at Sienega in 2016.
SPEAKER_02So let me ask you this. You're you give the younger coaches on here that want to eventually become head coaches. Um what would you, if you were sitting down with them, what's a quick version of what the most important things that they can do being a younger coach and having patience, but really working to get to the point where they have opportunities to become a head high school coach. What would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01Okay, have you seen like the Billy Madison like stay here as long as you can? I would start with that. Like, assistant life isn't that bad. Enjoy it, have some fun with it. It's a good deal. It's probably the most football you're gonna do, right? Like, because once you get to head head coach land, you get pulled off track all the time. So enjoy being football only and really love that role because it does feel different uh as a head coach. That's the first thing I would tell them. Okay, the second thing I would tell them is that you're a football coach, you're not an offensive coordinator. Like, you need to be able to diversify your knowledge and how and the positions you you work with. A head coach, I I I've worked with the O-line, I weigh 150 pounds. I work with the O-line, I work with the D-line, I can coach linebackers, I coach quarterbacks, I call an offense, I can call defense, I can do special teams. Like, build your portfolio as an assistant, take on some of those weird jobs. Don't be afraid to coach out of your position group. You know how football works. Like, lean into that and figure out it's the same in every position. You're a foot, you're a football coach, stop. You need to be specific on what you're willing to do. I think as soon as you open that up and then you start applying that to like be okay going to a rebuild, be okay, like don't need a big name school, be open to opportunities, and that's really the best way forward. The other thing that I would say is continue to work. On yourself, like you're gonna be challenged in this job emotionally, uh, mentally, physically sometimes. Like it's hot out there. You need to continue to work on yourself and you know, continue to lead a good life that you're proud of. Like, if your life's not in order, it's gonna be really hard to lead other people to have the life that they're looking to build. And so you got to start with yourself first uh and make sure all that that stuff's right, or at least uh on a track to be right.
SPEAKER_02Well, I Jeff Bolno from Tank of Verde High School, head football coach and track coach. Um so I hey man, I appreciate you. Um tell your dad, I'll reach out to your dad too. But I had a lot of fun. Thank you very much. Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_01Again, let me know. I had a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_02We uh don't worry, we will. We're gonna get it some round tables going and I don't know what's going on. All right, but uh hey, for a quick sounds good.