1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Dr. Jamie Williams - 3/29/2024

Episode Date: March 30, 2024

Dr. Jamie Williams - 3/29/2024Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the couple Chevrolet GMC Studios. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. Brought you by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul. On 937 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. It's good Friday. It's good Friday. Yeah.

Thank you all for hanging out on a Friday where hopefully you've got plans for yourself and all. Do something good. Hopefully today you've done something good for yourself and others, just remembering what this is all about and why it all matters. 4246, 4-5-6-85. So our hymn text line, Honda Lincoln Hotline. If we wanted to do what we do,

we shout out our folks from Allo, Channel 961 for hooking us up, live video, stream, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, X. and of course, again, find 961. We are on the stream. You folks who are searching around and have figured out that you need to jump on to the stream and the ticket app. Thank you for doing what you do. Greatly appreciate it. We are expecting Dr. Jamie Williams over the course of the hour.

And there's lots to talk about with the change of leadership. And I wanted to define some of that, some of those things with Dr. Williams and what leadership is and and why it's so valuable and you know where it goes left sometimes and there's a lot of things that need to be identified and I I like to go back I want to go back in in in history because people and there is no revisionist history to it the original idea behind land grant universities and what they were for and then through the evolution of those things. Most people don't, haven't really sank their teeth into land grant universities and what they're for. And the evolution of those things and space is created for furthering education,

albeit different kinds of education for different kinds of people. And ultimately, you land on, okay, well, we've got to improve everybody's opportunity, situation, circumstance. It's not just for some. for all. And then through mission statements and other, that original leadership, as it was set in play, and it took Nebraska a while to land on what it was going to be, what the focus was going to be. Was it just simply agriculture? Was it life skill, basic life skill management? What was going to be the focus? And then a big part of that then evolved because for how government funding was working and the bank loans and all the things that were involved, you make commitments on what the mission is going to be.

Ultimately, it was for the young people. These institutes of higher learning were for the young people and through the young people, the communities. And when it becomes exclusive, then you are limiting the potential. you're actually devaluing all of this. And it's kind of difficult. So Nebraska makes decisions, and there's a new athletic director

at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. And then there's a priority candidate for the president of the university, and however it works, you then have to learn that in order to figure out who's going to lead you, you're going to have to figure out and determine and identify what it is their lead. What are they trying to accomplish? What are the focus as priorities? What things need to be taken care of first and then last?

And ultimately, when higher education then immediately turns towards money, it is a different thing altogether. It's not about the original thing, which is education. It's learning. It's actually finding more information, not less. It is about meeting new people, not less. It's about like this craziness that we forget that higher. The reason why you go to college is to meet people outside of your circle, to expand your circle, to actually become more knowledgeable about your community, your state, your family, your people, your specialties and focuses. You're not supposed to go to college to stay as you were when you were in high school. The whole point to college, the whole point of it is to get out of your norm, get out of that situation and circumstance. Take the good from your hometown and then transplant it into another place to make that place better and then to make the homegrown talent more talented than it was. If you could just stay at your high school and become the greater version of yourself, you would just stay in high school.

So Nebraska has to figure out what it is that its focus is another because you cannot lead without a plan, without a mission, and without a coat. Nebraska makes a decision. And I don't have any questions or doubts about decisions made. My question is why are the decisions being made? Who are the decisions being made for? and through this station on a daily and nightly basis,

we have student athletes walk into the building and share their stories. And there is not one athlete from the University of Nebraska that walked in the door and said, I hate this place. Not one. Not one has ever said that. What I've heard is that in some cases, they are not, they're not being heard. They're not being respected.

They're not being celebrated. They're not being respected. And the big issue is that that can only happen if you don't know them. It is hard to ignore somebody you know. It is hard to ignore a thing that you are familiar with. And the great problem, you can't hate people that you're around all the time. it's not possible. We're not wired that way.

You can't hate what you know well. That's the whole college experience. And for coaches, for coaches specifically, and then for athletic directors, that you're managing people from all over the country. At the University of Nebraska, I'm pretty sure that every state is represented

at the University of Nebraska, that there are recruits and student athletes and students from every state who come here. And it's hard to know everybody, but it should be the intention to know everybody. And so I ask, and it's a question, right? It's a thing. So I'm going to bring Ben into the conversation because I want to make a point in asking conversations. And Ben, thank you for being here tonight.

How are you? I'm doing great, Dr. Jamie Williams is on the way. So we'll go short in this first segment. We're just setting the table. I'm plan B. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Always on this show, whenever you're in that seat, you're the, you're the, you're the first option.

You're the first go-to. We invite other people into our conversation, into our space. But I'll ask you this thing. Do you think you know people from other states as well as you need to? No. How many states have you been to? In my wife, um, I may be. say like eight. Where have you been? Montana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas. I want to go to Texas. I was just in

Oklahoma. I'm trying to think of where else I've been. Have you been? So what's the most coastal state you've been? California. California. That's the one I've- So where in California have you been? Because California is like six states in one. Yeah. We went to San Francisco. Okay. So have you, have you? You've been to San Diego? No. Have you been to Los Angeles? No. Have you been?

So Sacramento? Yeah, we went San Francisco and then we went up to Sacramento a little bit. San Jose? No. Okay. So understanding how, what that is, that you could drive, California, and Texas are just unique places. Yeah.

Because they're their own spaces and they're in full. Are you, can you, is it possible? for you to be an expert in people from Texas if you've never met any? No. No. Or can you, is it possible for you to be an expert on Texas cuisine if you've never had it? No. Okay.

Is it possible for you to know gymnastics if you've never done it? No. Not really. Right? I mean, if you watch it all the time, maybe. You can watch it, but you can't tell, can I ask you what it feels like to do a 360? No. I'm not athletic enough to do that.

Right. Like, there's so much of this thing. So then the mission is to be available and open to it so that you're more familiar. Knowledge is to know, not to think, not to believe, not to speculate, not to guess, but to know. and leadership is knowing, knowing that I have to spend time with you to know you to lead you. I cannot lead you if I don't know you. And you can't be led by me if you don't know me. Yeah.

Those are things. So I wanted to be clear in that as a coach, as a boss, as a husband in various ways. I have to be present. I have to know the people in my charge. And that's, to me, that's a big deal. Yeah. That's a big deal. So I always found it interesting when Nebraska says, well, it's not for everybody.

I hate that, slogan. Why does it bother you? Because it's like you're trying to shun people off. It's almost like you're saying, oh, this isn't for you. Don't come here. It's just like that's what makes me feel like. Define. I like to do this.

I did it with Megan Walker the other day and I asked her to define her hometown. Define your hometown for me. My hometown of Columbus? Yeah. Hmm. How many? How many? What's the population?

You know? I don't know the exact number. I could look it up. Yeah. Get me. I'll get you an exact number. And then bring up the history of your, your illustrious hometown. I know Columbus is in very.

It's a very industrial city. Define that for me. Like there's a lot of factory work in Columbus. And because the loop river goes by there, that was kind of the big reason why a lot of like factories. What river is that? The loop river. It's like a pretty big river over there.

The loop river. Yeah, it was like a big reason why a lot of industrial stuff got set up over there. So like, and also one of the busiest highways. What is the, what is the thing that, that it produces more than anything else? Like what is it known for? I honestly feel like it's known like there's so many there's so many factories there. It's honestly crazy. I feel like that if I was going to say there's so many big businesses there too.

Like it's surprising. What kind of big businesses are there? Just like if you can think of like there's so there's first of all there's a bunch of food chains. Like it's surprising how many different. There's like seven or eight different pizza places there, which it's kind of crazy for a population of that city that there's that many like that. I'm trying to find the population 24,000. So there are seven pizza places in a place that has 24,000 people.

So that's a lot of pizza. I know. That's a lot of people that everybody's accountable for. There's so many. And they don't have a target, but, you know, there's a Walmart, Hy-V, Super Saver. There's this, like, multiple, there was four cases. How many high schools are there?

Three. There's three high schools for 24,000 people. Well, like public. Well, I guess SCOTUS is not public. Yeah, there's three main high schools, yeah. Three high schools. How big was your graduating class? Not more than 100.

So why are there three high schools if the classes? Because I, Wakeview is the smallest one, what I went to. The main high school, which is Columbus High School, it's Class A. There's, like, a lot of people there. Okay. I'm not sure how big they're graduating classes are, but it's like, way. bigger. Like there's probably 10 times the amount of people in that school than my school. So you would almost think that there's a thousand people in the graduating class.

Maybe. I'd have to look that up too. So we'll find that. But here's here's why I'm asking all of this. There should be a natural curiosity because there's zero chances you know the rest of the state. Have you been to all corners of the state? No. Right. I don't ever go like east number. I've never been like eastern Nebraska. Or no, west, west, west. So you've never been west? Yeah, west. What are the,

what are the cities that you should probably get to at some point, being that you're from Nebraska and there in Nebraska? I don't know if there's like specific cities, but I just know there's so many counties out west. And there's like some cool stuff out west. Like, um, I know there's something that pops up on like my Instagram rules all the time where there's like this cool like,

um, place or there's like a circle of like a bunch of old, cars and stuff. I don't know. I don't know if I'm explaining it well, but I know there's a bunch of cool stuff out west. There's not as many people, but like, I do want to eventually like, how far is the drive to come from here? Yeah, hour and a half. Hour and a half. Okay, and how often did you go back? Well, since I've been working here, not as often. I would say I go back home. I will feel no guilt about that. And you shouldn't be. I've been loving it. I've been loving it. I will feel no guilt about No, you shouldn't. I usually go like maybe once a month back home at most, maybe only like once every two months.

What do you know about the history of your hometown? How old is it? Do you know, do you know? I don't, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how old is now. Do you know how it was founded? No. Okay. So not a huge history person. So it talks about Lou Rivers, I mean, but this is, the thing you just said is one, okay, so you would, would you consider yourself smart? Yes. Smarter than most? My GPA would say yes.

What's your GPA? In high school, out of 4.0 in college, I have a 3.7. Okay. We've got to get that up to four, but, bro, it's hard. Ben, that's an excuse. That's not, like I'm a member, that club has to be put down. I'm happy with the 3.7. Why?

because it's like okay so what if i told you that you would have a job waiting for you with a four point out of three point seven i mean i'd have to try really hard to get a four point oh but like i don't know if i could do why would i want to hire a person that would do less than they're capable i mean i figure we're all it's how even now i don't i think it's super hard to get like a hundred percent out of like is it possible i it is probably possible for me to get a for it possible probably yeah no no no no no no it's possible okay it's possible right like you know that it's possible and it'd be really hard no i didn't say it was easy i said it's possible probably likely if you that's what you chose to do okay so what if i said to you that's what i

said to you that I'm only going to hire full-time people who carried a 4.0 in their college career. Well, I mean, I've already had Bs, so I wouldn't be able to get up to a 4.0. What year are you? I'm a sophomore, but I'm graduating next spring. Okay. So if I said in the next calendar year, in the last year of your education, I'm only going to hire 4.0 students. Am I hiring you or no? I mean, if I don't get a 4.0, I would try really hard.

No, no. It's not my decision. It's your decision. I'm putting a job on the line. And a part of the requirements is a 4.0. Some people can work their tail off. We're not talking about some people. We're talking about Ben.

Okay. I could, I feel like, I feel like I could get. You're never going to talk me down from 4.0. Never, never, okay. You're not. Okay. You're not. This job, this job as a career requires that you do everything at your maximum.

Now, if you had told me that you're only capable of a 3.7, I'd have a different conversation for you. But we know that you're capable of 4.0, right? And that not only is it possible, it leans on the plus side closer to than away from. You're closer to a 4.0 than you are away from a 4.0. See, the thing is, I could, I feel like, okay, so I could have a 4.0, but I would have to lessen other stuff I do outside of school. Okay, but the other stuff out of school, outside of school, is that more important than your career? I think my job here is more important than getting a 4.0 versus a 3.7, yeah.

No, there is no job here if you don't get hired than 3.7. It's backwards thinking. And this is, again, this is part of the process, is that if I tell you that this is the thing I want for you, and here's how you can get it, it's not up to me anymore. It's up to you. Yeah. It's either your job based on your work, your decisions, your results, or not. It's not a me thing and you have zero competitors for your job.

For this job, you have zero competitors. Okay. It's got, hey, Ben, 4.0 and it's in an envelope sitting above the door. You're the only person that has the key and the combination to it. Okay. Whether you accept it or not, nobody can come and take it. no one can take it away it's yours so who decides well me if i'm capable of it me you're looking at me keep going what do you mean keep going if what if there's no if like if if i'm

capable of doing it then yeah remove the the if from our conversation in our in our conversations you're never you're never use it nope okay not not a thing not a thing Not a thing. Not a thing. Okay. Now, how far do we have to go from 37 to 4.0? Like from GPA.3. 0.3. How much extra work is that going to take? That would take more hours of studying and more hours. How many more hours? Give me details. I know that you're analytics driven. So give me the analytics on how much, how many hours a week. Yeah. Right?

How much time do you spend academically current? Well, including class. A week. Okay, so I'm probably in classes about eight. Eight hours a week? Right. That's just the guess. Eight hours a week or eight hours a day?

Oh, a week, not a day. Okay. So eight hours a week. That leaves you at 160. You got a pet, you got patent pin over there? See that piece of paper? paper you got a pen no it's right there okay it's right there we're gonna do this right now and i want you to understand how how leadership works and how simple this is right i'm ready okay 24 hours a day

seven days a week that's 168 hours been fed you got me yeah okay so 168 is the is the number we're working from eight hours you just said eight hours a week either eight or 10 yeah let's let's for grins and giggles say 10 okay let's say 10 right right How many hours a week do you sleep? On a good night, seven or eight? On an average week. I would say seven. Seven.

Let's just say 49 hours in the week. All right. All right, 49 hours. You eat lunch, dinner, breakfast. You were three meal a day guy? I don't eat breakfast now. So you're two meal a day guy. Okay.

An hour for each meal? 45 minutes, 30 minutes? What do you do? probably 30 30 so an hour a day eating so then that's seven seven hours okay all right how many hours do we have left like 103 103 okay now so we're sleeping we're going to class and we're eating and you're supposed to see and the rule is I'm with you're supposed to I don't do this but you're supposed to study an hour for each credit hour you're in so if I'm in 15 credit hour you're in I'm supposed to spend 15 hours outside of class.

How many credit hours are you? Right now I'm in 13. You're in 13. I do not spend 13 hours outside. Okay. So we're going to be fruitful. Let's say that you're going to actually study an additional five more. Okay.

You're actually going to be in class the additional five. So we're going to take all 13 hours. Okay. All right? Okay. And then we're going to give you an additional 30. 13 hours of study time. Okay.

All right. All right. All right. Now, how many hours are left? 87. 87 hours. 87 hours. Shower, workout.

How many? You work out every day? Work out? I don't work out. Okay. Getting ready for the day. Half hour each day, 15 minutes each day? 15 minutes a day.

So let's say two hours. Let's just make it two hours. Okay. Fair? Yeah. 85 hours. Here we go. Cooking and Crisco.

Right. Yeah. Right. You're currently working here part-time. How many hours are we? Like 20. 20 hours. Put it down.

20 hours. Now, Ben, how many hours are left? 65. 65. What percentage of 65 is out of 168? A third? Yeah. Somewhere in that.

Somewhere in that neighborhood. And if you divide that by seven. So a third of your week is still in play. A third of your week is still in play. Let's say that you're a playboy, Ben. You're a playboy and your social calendar is insane. Insane. You need to spend two hours a day that you've just got to spend on that.

So minus seven or minus 14 hours. We're still at 48 hours. Yeah. And you're telling me that you can't study incrementally more, incrementally more, to get from 3-7 to 4-0? Because the only excuse that people have for not achieving anything is that I do not have the time. And we now know that you have time. We know that you have the time.

You have an additional, an additional seven hours a day. Seven. Mm-hmm. I would say, since you're a sports guy, you understand this. If you're shooting 50% of your free throws, you're making 50% of your free throws because you take 100, a day, you make half of them. How would you get better at shooting free throws?

Shooting more free throws? More free throws. All right. Now, if you shot 200 free throws, incrementally, you'll get better at. Yeah, eventually. If you shot 200 more free throws a day, get better at.

I know where you're going with this. Do you think that if you took, went from 100 free throws a day, to 300 free throws a day, that you could get that up to 53%. Yeah. Right? Simply from the work. Okay. And the repetition and the decision to do so.

So you now understand there is no if, there's no excuse. It just is. Correct? Okay, yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're logical. You're looking for a back door to back out of it, but there's no back door to it because you know why? I have 37 years of experience knowing that this is absolutely true. And I don't miss.

Yeah. I don't miss. It's honestly crazy how many extra hours we have. It doesn't feel like it. But Ben, leadership requires that. you identify the space that you're in, all the particulars that matter in that space, and then time.

GPS is required, which means that you have to identify where you are. You're currently at 3.7. You want to be at 4.0. The GPS demands, and it tells you that, okay, now what are you going to do? It tells you direction.

It tells you time. Okay, if you're going to choose this, this is how quickly you're going to get to where you need to get to. And then it acts as a reminder that, Ben, you said you're going to get to 4.0. It appears that you're doing 3.7 work. I mean, that's what my GPA says, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But we're going to say something different now, right? I'll try. Nope. Not around me. I do. That's what's required. If you tell me that you love this sports thing that much. then I cannot allow you to throw it away.

I can't allow. I won't allow. And that's not about me. It's about you. So we are currently on the way to 4.0, Ben. That's going to be the deal. We're going to go to break. We'll come back, Dr. Jamie Williams.

You're listening to One-on-One with DP, sponsored by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul, on 93-7 the ticket in the day. The ticketfm.com. Welcome back. I greatly appreciate you getting hanging out on a Friday as you're headed to your Easter weekend. Wonderfully done.

We're expecting Dr. Jamie Williams. He said he was on the way and things happen. In the meanwhile, poor Ben. Poor Ben is getting the version of Coach DP that just imagine various ports of call around the country or is the student athletes have to deal with me as a coach where things aren't going to be accepted. Here's the thing that I know, that whatever I ask from you and accept from you academically is what I'm going to allow from you and accept from you as an athlete.

If I set a standard where 78% is good, then that's the standard and that's where we're going to work from. If I say that 50% is what's acceptable, and that's why I always say to Nebraska fans, when you tell me that you just want to go 500, my head hurts. My head hurts because that means that you're literally saying, if we get this half right, it's okay. And I'll tell you, 78% of my student athletes carry a 3.5 GPA or higher. So a scholar athlete.

And a weird thing happens is that as a student athlete, what happened academically was exactly what happened on the field. My team's also won an identical 78% of the games play. That's in three sports in four states. Didn't matter where I was coaching, didn't matter. The class of people I was coaching didn't matter. Socio-economic, didn't matter.

Did matter. If it was a millionaire boy school in the Woodlands, Texas, whether it was the rough neighborhood of Falls Church, Virginia, whether it was the fine neighborhoods of Fairfax, Virginia, whether it was Draper, Utah, Riverton, Utah, Salt Lake City, or Ogden. The constant thing is the standard and the rules of the guidance. And that's why I tell people, when it comes to sports here, you start to identify whether people are putting in work

and whether they have standards that they're going to work from. and the people that you choose to be around you. So I can say that I want the ticket to be the number one radio station in the state. But does that sound true if I'm going to tell you it's okay for you to not be the best version of year? That's the thing, is that I have to ask you, okay, what does Columbus, Nebraska's best when he leaves the area and he wants to go home, what do you want to be able to say when you go back home, that you are better than when you left? Right?

I think in your head you were a 3.7 student before you got here. Yeah. And if you're trying to stay a 3.7 student, is that you growing or is that you settling? Settling. Okay. So then if you tell me, what do you want to do? It's the question I ask all the athletes.

So I'll ask you again. What do you want to be doing in five years? What does it look like for you? In five years, I hope to have a job in sports media in Nebraska. Be specific. What kind of job? What do you want to be doing? You want to write?

You want to talker. You want to be a producer. I would love to be. I'd love to be able to talk or write. I love both. I'm keeping my options open. Well, I mean, in the ideal world. Ideal world.

In the idea world, what does it look like? What do you, what do you, if you could snap your finger and say, okay, it's 2029. I have my own show. I have, I'm doing play by play. I'm doing, I'm writing game recaps, whatever that is. What is that? In an idea world,

I'm working for a place like ESPN where I'm getting paid a lot of money. And a lot of people are listening to me. I just hired me. Ben, I just hired you. You're already leaving me. Come on.

That's in like, idea world. That's Ben. You're like, come on, man. No, that's perfectly fine. That's perfectly fine.

Because the whole thing of this is that it's my mission and job to build to build and elevate. So if when, when, when folks come, Ethan being a perfect example, Mark Unweiler, Connor, when you leave here,

I want the same thing for you, wherever you're going to be, then, uh, that is there. So if you tell me that you are, you're spying for ESPN, then that tells me,

okay, that 3.7 is not it. That's not it. That's 4.0 territory. Okay. That's the best of the best of the best of the best. Yeah. So is that really the target?

Because you're going to change your operation if that's your target. And it's okay if that's target, but that 4.0 is necessary. Right. Right. You have to ponder that. Like it's an important thing. It's an important thing. Okay.

Radio versus writing. I like radio just because I'm actually able to talk. I'm a talker. Are you talking to be heard? Are you talking to teach? Are you performing or informing? I like, I feel like both. Like I want to be able to inform.

Like I don't want to just be talking here just like, no, yeah. Like I want people to get something out of what I'm saying. But also, I'm not going to dislike relay information in a boring, monotone voice. I mean, everyone that I feel like is on sports radio, you're performing a little bit. Give me your most unpopular sports take. The thing that you just, it is a sports rule that is just, you know, one of those, it's an unwritten rule. One of those things that drives you crazy.

What is that? Wait, that drives me crazy or other people? Yeah, an unsporting rule, like one of those unwritten rule things that, you know. What drives me crazy is everyone thinks the Cowboys are America's team. That's what drives me crazy. Why does it drive you crazy? Because most America doesn't even like the Cowboys. I mean, if I go to, if I would go and pull 10.

thousand people. I guarantee you the Cowboys would not be the most popular. So here's where this is where the drive goes for you to set up a poll and then to find even on campus. Even on campus. I mean, it also determines like where you pull is big too because if you pull in Nebraska, you're more likely to get Kansas City Chiefs fans. Well, well, but that's a thing, right? So to be able to figure that out that if you go social and you're trying to reach 10,000 people. And you, in your mind, how many of those 10,000 are going to say Dallas is America's team? In my mind, I feel like only like 30% or something like that. 30%. But that's, that's a big number. That's a big chunk. If it was like, is the Cowboys America's

team yes or no, I would say 30%. Okay. I'd say yes. Okay. Then how would you state this? I mean, if I'm just asking, are they America's team? I mean, it would more unlikely just be a yes or no answer. Is, so if it's 48% Is that, does that validate your point? Or is that validate their point that it actually is? If 48% of the country thinks that, I mean, more than half of the country doesn't think that they're America's team. Is that the opinion leverage that we're talking about?

I don't know. Yeah. I don't even know. Yeah, like that's the thing you have to figure out. Like, what are you trying to say? Are you telling me the majority of people don't think that Dallas is America's team? I could probably buy into that, at least from a discussion point. But if you said to me, most people don't like Dallas.

The Cowboys? Yeah. No. I feel like, well. Remember, there's 32 teams. So, yeah. There's a lot of people that don't like the Dallas Cowboys. But that's the data that has to be applied to.

But I'm going to challenge you that. I'm going to ask you to figure out how. many people what percentage of people think that Dallas is the Dallas Cowboys are America's team fair enough I mean I'm sure I could fair enough there's been a poll we're gonna we're gonna put that up all right let's go to break we'll come back close out one-on-one get you into the weeknakes you're listening to one-on-one with DP sponsored by Mary Ellen's food for the soul on 93 7 the ticket and the ticket FM dot com welcome back and we have this special

guest. And if you're talking education and achievement, this is the right got to talk to. Amazingly. That's the right. I got to talk to Dr. Jamie Williams. Guys, sir, how are you on a Friday? I am happiest Friday. Thank God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That song back in the day. How about that? How about that? It's greatly appreciated. Listen, we were talking about the value of setting real standard in academics. and achievement. And I told young Ben that in our conversations, I wanted to remove if,

because if is a backdoor. It is a mattress for you to land on at the cliff. And until you tell people that, and I said what was important for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln is to identify in its leadership what the new standard is going to be. And if you don't know what that standard is, it's not possible to be led.

That's right. I love it. Right? Like I'm not banging my head against the wall. I would rather set a GPS and know what the mission is at the end of the GPS because it tells me from where I am to where I need to go and how I'm going to get there. It gives me a timetable. It gives me directional.

It gives me purposeful. It's pretty accurate. So from a leadership standpoint, you've been in those positions. So I couldn't wait. to ask you in a position of leadership, especially in an athletic department, I always find myself leaning against John Wooden's pyramid for success to figure out what the priority is,

what the focus is for everything. Because that tells me how we're gonna do anything. That's right. So in athletics, especially at a higher level, institutes of higher learning, colleges and universities universities across the country. What should the priority be for business? Because we understand if you tell me that it's money, then it's not people. And if you tell me it's people, it cannot be money. That sounds like a great line from North Dallas 40.

Right. Like every time you tell me it's about business, you say it's about football. Every time you saying about football, you say it's about... That is one of the great lines. Amazing line. You know, at the end of the day, from a business standpoint, it is... I'm going to get you closer to that microphone. There we go. It is about the customer. You know, it is about

the athlete, the student. You know, if you focus on that, you're going to get closer to what you, what you're trying to achieve. Yeah. You got to make it about that. Unfortunately, athletics has become like entertainment, right? It's a lot like the movie industry. And the movie industry is,

is serengeti. Like, everybody's looking for the cheetah. They take down the beast. But every, every scavenger wants a piece of the carcass. Yeah, and nobody wants to be the beast. Like, I'm trying to understand that if you're the, if you're the University of Nebraska, and you're assigning people departmentally to handle and be the focus

center for that department. Are you honoring the department? Department's priority and can it be different than the universities? Can the mission statement for the athletic department be different than the mission statement for the universe? No. Should not be. No. No.

Because it's not a pro team. It's part of an institution of higher learning, higher learning, not just learning. And that mission, that search for truth, that search for accountability, you know, has to be adhered to. A lot of people don't believe that because, because, you know, You know, sports has become his own fight them, right? And so there's a lot of, when you have a fight, and there's always people, you know, looking to sit on their throne, the game of Thrones.

And it gets lost in that. It gets lost in the fact that these kids still need to go to school. They still need to search for self and figure out, you know, who they are and the why in their life. And that's what scholasticism is about, right? Yeah. But we do like to be entertained. Remember Caligula back in the Roman days,

he was honored because he brought back the games. You know, Tiberius took him away, right? He brought him back. And so we do get lost in the games sometimes, but that's just part of it. What should the focus be, if we're being specific? So let's talk about the university in a space where people, it's supposed to be for everybody,

and education is boundless in who it's supposed to reach. Yes. Why are boundaries being put in place in education? That's a great question, because if you go to look at the founding fathers, okay, you know, Jefferson grew up on a farm, but became very educated, along with George Washington, they both with the William and Mary. If you look at Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton, you know, fought in a revolutionary war, but he was educated. He got educated.

He, like, grew up in the hood on the island, right? And so if the education wasn't there for him, the opportunity to go to King's College, which is now Columbia, if he doesn't get that, he doesn't become Alexander. He doesn't, we don't have a central bank. We don't have our first secretary of treasure. You give them saying there's a connection in terms of achievement. If you look at the other Alexander,

the great, who is he, what did he do? He didn't just go out and fight. No, he studied from Aristotle first. That's how important education is and it gets lost

and it bothers me to no end because the smarter athlete is usually the winning athlete. All the time. Like I've said this that I prefer smart students to play for me because

they're teachable. That thing transferred. Ben and I just had the conversation. The athlete, the person that plays the sport is the same student as he's an athlete. He processes the same way. And if he learns to commit one thing, he then learns to commit at the other thing.

Right? That there is a way to get the athlete to study. I think it's important, right? Like there's a way. Then it becomes okay, well, it's the way. but we figured that out as well. I'm just not sure people are interested in it. And then I'm a little worried that the next Dr. Jamie Williams from Davenport, Iowa,

will not feel welcome in Lincoln, Nebraska. That's a real question. Right? That's absolute question. I can remember when I was getting recruited at 1617, and Dr. Tom Osborne was in our little. house in our little kitchen. And, and he, and I just kept looking at him, like, that's a coach.

And he's Dr. Osborne, like, right? And he, him and, I think it was Notre Dame. No, it was Penn State. The only two that talked to me about what you can become as a student, about education. He already knew what I could do on the field. Yeah. But he's like, you know, if you want to be this, you want to be that. And yeah, we got a whole smorgasbord.

And it was, it was a conversation. It wasn't about, hey, you're going to, if you come to us, you'll make it to the pros. Well, I made it to the pros. They didn't talk about it. You don't have to. You just have to produce. The other thing that's really important when you talk about athletics, right? Everybody that's in athletics is not a winner.

Yeah, they've all been on teams. But if you're not on a winning team, there's a difference between being on a team and being on a winning team. See, this is why when you and I talk and I said, okay, first of all, Dr. Williams, you need to be heard. You need to be heard in this space, right? That whether it's from the sports side, from the academic side, from the humanity side, you need to be heard. Because in these conversations, that very thing comes into play. That in a program with the legacy and success tied to Nebraska football, that winning has not been redefined.

Yeah. That people say, well, we want to win. But what does that mean? Because winning in 1989 was different than it was in 74, which is different than when it was in 71. When Coach Osborne was winning 10 games, that's winning, except it's not the standard. The standard was doing the best that you could do, which was winning a national title. And once you got to the national title, winning nine games under Solich was not good enough because you had redefined winning. Now Nebraska football says, listen, get me to 500.

And that'll be considered winning. And I can't fathom for that. That's scary. Right. Like, I mean, that literally is the acceptable standard currently that, please, for the love of all that Scarlet and Cream get to 500, which I think is just. an atrocious thing to say. It bothers me. And when I talk to people locally

and they talk about the teams and I have to tell them, I can't see it the way you see it. I don't come from that. I don't come from 500. At any level, you know, it's about winning you being the alpha, you being at the top.

How do you become the alpha? You take out the other alpha, right? And it's a mindset. This is a true story. I remember when I came here, we're young. I mean, we all had, we didn't get to play right away like a lot of kids today. We had to cook in the oven. And I'm sitting there with Dave Remington and Todd Brown and Roger and all these guys.

And we're, Roger Craig is, and we're talking about, we're watching us get beat by Oklahoma. And we sat and said, we're not getting beat by Oklahoma. No coaches, no, we're not doing it. You know, we're going to train on top of our training, but we're not doing it. And we didn't lose. We didn't, you know, my group, we didn't lose to them, right? And so it's a mindset, right? But our coaches were like that as well.

They knew what we were doing. They knew we were out there running stadium steps on our own without them telling us what we're trying to do. And it's kind of wild wild west right now in athletics. Are you, can you, I mean, this is where I, one, we understand. understand economically. I believe the last NCAA study said that over 80% of Division I, Power 5 student athletes come are from impoverished situations. They are less than below the standard line. So if that need exists, then we have to address that and knowing that if you don't take care of them and make their situations better, they're going to seek it.

Absolutely. They're going to seek it. They're going to seek it. And if the people in position of power are themselves from a position of abundance are still seeking, if the coach who's making millions is still looking at making more millions, you're telling the poor folk that it's okay to base all of your decisions on money. Yes. and we haven't addressed that it's not the student athletes who created this situation. No. It's the leadership.

Yeah, you know, I was on a I was on a couple committees at the NCAA when I worked here and we were having those conversations, right? But still, it became about the money, right? And we're like, we can't make it about the money.

It's about, you know, it's about the, message of the university. Not about the money. But, but if you do well, the money comes. Always does. You know, I can't tell you how many guys I knew that said, I'm going to go to the pros. I'm going to go to the pros. And I'm like, do you know what the pros, you know, when I look back in retrospect, it is feaster famine. It isn't no scholarship? You know what I'm saying? You're going up against grown men and women. And so it's not a given, right? That money you see those. those guys making in the pros, it's not a given, man.

But that money is earned. It's not given. Well, there's, you know, I talked about mindset earlier. You know, and you talked about the kids that come from impoverished places. Those kids grow up in adversity. That's why they can make plays that they make because they've been uncomfortable their whole life. They've been in friction the whole time.

And they're like, oh, I got this. Don't worry about it. I'll take it down, right? And you look at kids that come from other countries. they got people bombing their cities. You know, you think they worry about, you know, somebody guarding them. Well, they're trying to understand why the European players are taking over in the NBA. Well, listen, they're fighting from friction long before they get over here.

Yes. They are identified at 13, 14, 15. Yes. And then they're put in the shark tank. They're put in with the grownups and said, listen, figure it out. Yes. Before you get to all the leisure stuff. John Thompson was one of my mentors.

John Thompson used to say that when he recruited athletes, if there were two athletes, he wanted to know that when those athletes were on the cliff, which of them would fight as though there was no mattress at the bottom of the hill? Come on. And he said, you could always identify. He goes because there are people who have support in their life. And if this thing doesn't work, it's okay. They'll fall and land on the mattress.

and then they'll go about their business. But there are those. And people use the term doth that understand that listen, there ain't no mattress. And I cannot get pushed off this hill. So guess what? You about to get it.

You know, I grew up in the Midwest and I will say this. I always say this. I really believe this. That if you take the kid who's impoverished inner city kid and you take a farm kid that he got to get up at 6 in the morning

and beat cows and do everything before going to school, same kid. Same kid. That's the same kid. Same heart, same mind. And that work ethic. I gave you an example. There's a kid,

great kid that came out of here, a teammate of mine, Dean Stein Coorkeler, played eight-man football. I mean, eight men, right? He's arguably one of the best athletes ever been around. He came in, he looked like a tight-in, man.

they turned him into an Outland Trophy winner. And, and, and, but the dude had a drive that was inner, that was inside, that was beyond. He was looking for that mattress. Mm-hmm. It, it, it, it is the important thing in how we re-identify how we talk about athletes and people. Mm-hmm. And my big thing is in this, especially in this station, is that we, we're not going to do the mentally lazy thing of having the same conversations driven by the same narrative.

driven by the same stories. No, no, no, no, no. I'll say this and I think you understand it, that there's no metric. There's zero metric to this universe that says that the poor kid from Arlington, Virginia, ends up in a radio station in Lincoln, Nebraska, with the kid from Davenport, Iowa,

and the kid from Columbus, Nebraska, unless we choose to do something better in it. And there's no other metric for it. That's right. Like, you could, you would have been, pushed aside and stepped on several ways. I've been turned down and told that, you know what,

maybe this isn't for me. And if I listened to that and said, you know what, that's okay. I got money. I'm okay. I'll do something else. Right.

No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm on the ledge. Yes. All the time. So that whoever, whatever other dogs come with me, hey, we're not fighting alone. And we get,

you have a place. you have a place. I think the big thing for me is that in all of your journeys that you have tentacles into so many areas of greatness. Yes. Right?

And it's what I appreciate is your accumulation of those greatnesses. Right? That no matter whether it's academic, athletic, spiritual, creative, producing things that, right, film,

storytelling, right? All of this. that it takes such a high level of dog because you don't look like the people that people would think of when you say any of those things at levels of success. That's right. And most people don't.

I remember I was on the team, you know, and I was, you know, I was an upperclassman. And some of the guys that didn't know me well thought that I, I got dropped off the school

in Iowa in a Volvo and dated girls named Buffy. You know what I'm saying? I was like, wait a bit. Neither one of my parents graduated from high school. You know? You know, people used to make fun of the clothes that I, that I had because I didn't have any. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. But I knew early on that the boats were burned. There were boats were burned. There was no going back. There's no, there's no, you know, rich uncle or somebody, you know, it's like, you know, but the one thing I did, and I kind of encourage these kids to do that. To dream, you got to read.

You got to read something beyond, and you will see yourself in some type of protagonist and see that he had to go through adversity. You know, in film, they call it dramatic tension, right? And a lot of people who are successful have gone through that, have done that. I think most people who are successful have. Because it's the only, we call it,

I use the phrase friction. because in every moment, every diamond requires friction. Oh, yes. It hits. Right, right? Intense friction at that. And to say, a thing happens from friction for everybody, which is you have to choose whether you're going to be idled by the friction,

whether you're going to be put in reverse to the refriction, or whether you're going to use the friction to propel. Yes. Yes. And villains use that and become negative. Sheep, idle, superheroes, advance, propel, jettisoned, used the friction against them, that thing that got in the way. They used it to become the great thing and say, you know what,

this should never happen. I'm going to fix it. Right? The hero stuff, you know, I love that. Right. But that's how, like when we first start talking, I said, you know what? Jamie's a superhero, even if he doesn't acknowledge, even if he does, and knowing that the superhero is required, it also demands that you know who's not working in superhero

mode, fashion mission. Yes. And I just think, I pay attention to bodies of people who move in superhero mode, that they're looking to make their community better, even at their own demise. or the people who will take advantage. Yes. Well, you know, it's funny you say that. If you look at the concept of the hero,

the hero always has some angst, some scar that they can't get rid of, and that's their superpower. You know what I'm saying? And, of course, they've made the industry off of that, right? You know what I'm saying? And, but it applies. And people don't understand it does apply

to your life. You know, if you look at guys that I know like Jerry Rice or Montana or Dion Sanders, these dudes have personal things in their life

that turned that motor on that won't turn off. Jerry Rice would tell the story of, you know what, I have to run that hill as though my meal is at the top of. Come on. Joe Montana said,

Listen, I heard you say that I was too skinny, too slow. Right? Spot on. Shannon Sharp likes to tell the story. Listen, man, I had to go to bathroom outside until I was 24 years old. Nothing that you asked me to do on a football field is harder than dealing with that in a winter in Georgia in the cold by yourself in the dark. That's fact. And I think people in identifying a lot of the conversations in.

sports and then in academics that we miss just being simple in, hey, are you okay? Are you okay? That's the most superhero thing you can do. Yes. All day, every day is to simply ask somebody, are you okay? Because it means you see them, you hear them, and then you actually care. Yes.

And I think that in, whether it's University of Nebraska, whether it's the NFL, whatever it is. NIL for student athletes. In every case, the student is telling you whether they're okay or not. And guess what? The coach doesn't want you to know that he's not being chosen. The big issue, they might say that, well, it's greed. Nope.

Nope. You know what you can't do? You can't take Sam Hoyberg away from his dad. Mm-hmm. And why? Because that's where love is. Mm-hmm. we love it.

A play, you, you ever watch how Sam Horberg plays? Yep. I love watching him. That engines turn on and it don't turn off until it goes to the bench. I'm like, wow. You know what I'm saying? And he knows that I'm undersized. I'm the coach's son.

Nobody expects me to do anything. And he's like, watch this. Yep. Yep. Yep. I mean, it's the kind of, like Ben and I were having the talk. I said, Ben, here's the thing. I want you to have what you want to have,

but the real thing is going to be, do not accept what is currently in play for you. You're a little dude. And then I can tell you, in this business, there are Jamie Williams out there that you're going to have to face down. And if you're not at 4.0, you already told him you're not willing to work as hard as he is. Remember, he has the physical advantage and the knowledge advantage.

If you're not willing to outwork him, you have no shot. You have no shot. And that's, I don't want anybody in this space to even begin to think that they don't have a shot because there's no chance that we're here having this conversation. And here's the T. We talked about this before we went on the air.

And it goes back to a Jackson 5 song, you know, ABC. And then that song that got these lyrics that says, teacher tells you how to get an A. Coach tells you how to get an A. You know, and it's up to you to figure out because they told you this is what you need to do and you got A, right? And a lot of students sometimes they're looking for the back door. I think a B minus is okay. Yep.

Is it? Yep. It'll get your B minus work. It'll get your B minus. Listen, we're playing space and say, you get, you, you ask, you play seven, you get seven. And I think, and I've been there. I mean, I think you have to, you know, get something lower than when you expect it to say, how does that feel? What are you going to do? Are you going to accept that? You know, it is, it's, but now, the other thing is you talked earlier about, are you okay?

Telling somebody. And that's, that's classic storytelling. Are you okay? You know, that's, that's the mentor. That's the sage. That's the Gandalf, that somebody's going to nudge you. And that's where leadership is lacking. In my opinion, across that you can go through athletics, athletics in our face that we can see it. But that's where leadership kind of messes up. Can you see that individual? Not just your player. What about the individual?

Can you nudge that individual? Not my number two tight in. Not my number three linebacker. Not the kid from New York City. Not the kid from Florida. I'm actually going to see the person. Yes. And I think it is the law.

that no coach should ever choose the game over the person. Yes. And it gets lost and people tell you get caught up in all this. I need to protect my job and he'd protect his house, all those things. So old school. That's so old school. Right. But the reality is if I, if I work, if I talk to Jamie Williams, we can get on the same page.

And it's the new, it's my next new project, which is meet me, meet me on the bridge in the middle. And we can solve everything. Because if we're both in the middle, one I'm going to see from your advantage, I'm going to take some of you with me back to mine. If we meet in the middle of the bridge, neither one of us will burn it down. Love it. That's some good universal wisdom for a Friday.

Listen, we've talked so much about mine, I, me, that we miss the we, us, and ours. And that's everything. And for university, when you start, to believe that it identifies a certain group of people rather than all the people, then you failed in the mission. Yes. And it's all the time.

So this is what we're going to do, because I want everybody to understand this, that I've talked to you, and I told you, you need to be having conversations in this space. Doctor, we've got to, I don't care if it's you and me dragging each other into a studio once a week from wherever we are, whatever we're doing. but I think your voice needs to be heard in this space. You not only earn the right, but there are people who don't know you who deserve to know you, that you exist and to see you as a notice. You know what?

I appreciate that, D.P. And, you know, one thing I worry about is that I do say what I feel and what I've experienced. And I try to be honest, you know, as I can, you know what I'm saying? Because there's always a bigger picture. you know, I don't believe in being like just a talking head. I'm not going to ask, I'm not going to have Jordan in front of a microphone. I'm telling you can't dump. I give you something.

I would challenge anybody out there, sport, you know, athletic business people, politicians, but go check out Thomas Jefferson's inaugural speech. when he first, his first, you know, round his president, and it's masterful. You know what I'm saying? He was a philosopher, you know?

But the way he put it together is like, he's like, you know, we're all federalists. We're all Republicans. We all, you know, but we all have to deal with reason. You know? And I thought, that is so true

that we don't deal. with reason. Like, you know, you may be the majority, but are you being reasonable in what you do? You may be the minority. Are you being reasonable in what decisions you make and what you're, a lot of people don't, they, it's emotion, right? So they stay in a little pot that doesn't achieve.

It just grinds the weight. It doesn't achieve. And for me, I've always been like, what's the next hill to climb? You know, I've been that way. Storytelling, can you. Yes, yes. You have stories to tell. I do.

You have thoughts to stir. You have souls to reach. And that's the thing. And I would say this. I'm never going to ask you. Ben, it's probably heard me say it 100 times on this airways. But you have my permission. I ask the question when I meet people, do I have your permission to tell you the truth?

Nice. Because that allows us to set of GPS. And if I ever start to fray from it, you get to say it's the GPS. It appears. It said that your mission was the truth. It appears that you started to veer, recalculate. Yes. And I think in this space, you choosing one that you have such a huge library of wonderful people to talk to and to talk about.

And so many projects that deserve amplification and elevation that using this, to do so is good for you and it's good for everybody. But it's kind of funny you say that because that's where I started. You know, let me give you a little quick history. You know, when I came,

neither parent graduated from high school, right? My mom's like, why are these people sending you letters? You know, we can't pay for college. And I'm saying, coach said they'll pay. And she said,

why would they do that? Right? Well, I razzed her about that, you know, until she left this planet. But the thing is, is that when I came here,

I was, I've had experiences because I was a little bit like Harry Potter. You know what I'm saying? You know, I had a pretty good brain in school, but I didn't have much experience. And so I came here. And the first time I really kind of started finding myself is when I had my own radio show at KRNU, 90.3 FM,

move into all-American city as a sophomore. And I got a chance to just like do my thing, right? And that's something that helped me find myself and put me on this journey of journeys, right? And I have done a lot of things. I've been around the world a few times, and I've been very blessed to have experiences. And you should share, you should pay it for, in my opinion.

Well, I think that in this space, and again, I'm smart enough as a coach to know that I know, that I need Jamie Williams on my team. I need Jamie Williams on my team. I'll plug that linebacker for you. Yeah, man. Listen, here's the deal. We're going to end this and let Ben get on his Friday.

But kind sir, you and I will talk. We have several conversations to have and they need to be shared. It is always joyful when you are sitting in front of the microphone. I have to say that there's so much for us to do going forward. I enjoy what you're doing, and it's good for the people. And this is this kind of basis of this country, you know, this, this freedom of speech, this, this, these ideas, these marketplace of ideas that we put out there. And you always speak universal truths.

And that's what has to be peppered to the people. We can talk sports. Just meet me on the bridge. Yes. In the middle. But remember that, remember that sports is the great metaphor. It's, it really. It's a wonderful mirror

who we really are, not who we say. That's right. Dr. Jimmy Williams. Thank you, brother. Ben, thank you guys, sir. Get us out of here. We appreciate your. Remember, take care of yourselves

and why are you doing it? Take care of everybody else, too.