Bussin' With The Boys - Charlie Ragle: From Taylor's High School Head Coach - To Assistant Head Coach At ASU

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

Recorded: April 15th 2023 | On our final episode of our Arizona State spring tour and final episode of our spring tour entirely, we sit down with Taylor's high school coach and now Assistant Head Coach at ASU, Charlie Ragle. We take a deep dive into Taylor's past in high school. Ragle talks about the first time saw Taylor as an opponent, and how he eventually recruited Taylor to Chaparral. Again we get into Taylor high school transcript and how blatantly bad it was. Ragle talks about how college coaches were afraid at first because of how bad it was but then once they saw Taylor play, they eventually came around to see if they could make it work. Ragle tells this hilarious story of how he got Taylor to sign over to Chaparral as well as how Taylor was the original "Blind Side" by blocking kids onto the track. Ragle is a high energy guy and really gives Taylor his flowers in this episode. We hope you enjoyed this years spring tour and we will catch you next year. Big hug and tiny kisses. 1:54 The first time Ragle saw Taylor 2:47 How Ragle got Taylor to Chapparal 4:13 How Taylor’s transcript effected his recruiting 6:17 Story of Taylor at nose tackle 7:57 Ragle giving Taylor his flowers 10:20 Story of a High School game and Taylor pulling a “blind side” 12:34 How Ragle got to ASU 13:47 What did he see in Dillingham 15:46 Ragle is the speech giverFor more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Grab the mic. Put that thing nice and close to them lips. Welcome to another episode of Bus with the Boys, our spring tour. Chevrolet. We got a shot at the boys at Chevrolet. No free shots of Chevrolet, specifically the Silverado EV. Chevy is a trusted company that has been innovating for the last 100 years, up to now, Most electric vehicles have been either too expensive, too small, and too limited in capabilities for most people.

Chevy is committed to making EVs available for all Americans. There is a growing network of public charging stations, stations, and there are over 1,900 certified Chevy EV dealerships. Chevy has convenient ways to research and shop EVs online. EVs for everyone, everywhere. This is an absolute pleasure. we have head coach of Chaparral, Chaparral, right? Chaparral, Coach Charlie Regal,

was head coached Shepparal, maybe the most winningest coach in Chaparral history. But the head coach of Chaparral, when you were in school, that's why this is important. Right.

If anybody who listen to the Dave Ziegler interview, you can check that one out. We set on the Raiders GM. This is the same bloodline, basically, not genetically, but you know what I mean. I'm with you. That Taylor came from,

so I assume this is going to be a great storytelling podcast between you two. Yeah, so just background, man. I was my junior year, my freshman through junior year, I'm playing nose tackle. And Chaparral High School, Scott Stale, it's a lot of money in that school. A lot of resources at Chaparral.

They come up to Cave Creek and fucking donkey us. Now, Trace Carroll, his dad, which is a guy I played with for like one year on like Pop Warner. Comes up to my dad and I was like, hey, what are you doing with Taylor? And that's like, what do you mean? He's just trying to play football, hopefully get a scholarship. And he's like, I think you need to have a meeting. So he goes and sit down with Regal.

and I don't know what happened at that meeting but I would love to hear that conversation you had. Well, let's back up because first of all, that was junior year we go up to Cactus Shadows. You know, and it's up, about a good 20 minute drive from the Dale and we're playing Cave Creek. And all as I know is they've got this really big,

good-looking guy and they're playing him at nose tackle. The thing I remember most about that game is that there was a really bad cornerback. And this is great coaching right here. I said, tomorrow's he's up in the box before the game kicks up. I said, hey, Dave, Mike Cummings. We had a really good receiver. I said, he's covering this guy.

You just throw it to this guy all night long. And we went for 12 catches, 250 yards, four tugs, 60 points on the board. The D tackle was a non-factor. De-tackle was a non-factor. I literally, I wasn't even a player you would look at and be like, we got to block this guy. He was big. He was long, good looking.

And so fast, fast, forward to the spring of 2008. 2008, right? Yeah, 08, right? Yeah, 08. And I guess I could say this now. I had a breakfast with his dad, which is illegal, I suppose. But yeah, what the hell. And there's got to be a statute of limitations on that, doesn't there?

So we met and just talked about the potential. We had a really good defensive end, was Taylor's teammate, Craig Rowe, at That's right. And Craig was a 4.0 student, had every offer in the country as a junior. So going to that spring, you knew that our place was going to be packed with dudes. Coach is coming through. And Taylor's dad knew that. And, you know, he thought, man, this is the opportunity for Taylor to get seen.

Now, did you pitch to him to move to offensive line versus nose tackle? Well, when I saw him, I was just like, man, look, this guy's a no-brainer, offensive tackle-like. I mean, you look at him. He's athletic, how he bends. It was like this is, and at the time, our offensive line coach had, was in his early 70s. Ron Hibeneck was retired, had played at USC, coached at SC, was a long time offensive line coach for the Patriots way back in the day. And so I'm just like, this makes so much sense for this guy to play offensive line. And I just told his dad, if we can get him there and he does what he needs to do, he's going to blow up.

I hadn't seen the transcript yet. Let me preface that. brother it was bad I don't know that he went to school for the first two and a half years when I saw that thing man it was bad bad my freshman year like the first semester

I failed three classes and then my second semester I failed four so I failed seven classes my freshman year of high school yes yes tough that's no bueno as they say yeah the border and so my man here was rocking into Shaptown with the one six GPA and but back there

the NCAA, life's about timing, as we all know. And back then, you could replace as many classes as you wanted to. There was no, there was no rule on how many classes as there is now. So I told him, man, hey, it's time to go to work. We're going to change the, we're going to change the face of your landscape. And that's exactly what we did. A lot of credit to a lot of people. And, you know, he left with the 2.6 GPA. And there was probably 40 plus power five, division one schools that came through that spring. And, you know, credit to Tony Dews. Yeah. You guys all know Dews. News out there in Tennessee. Dues believed me when I told him, like, we're going to get this

dude right. Like, we will get this guy qualified. You just got to trust me on that. And so dues stayed because everybody came to see Craig. And obviously, Craig was a hot commodity and a really good player as well. But everybody was asking about Taylor, you know, and then you show him the transcript and they're like, good talk, coach. And so my man, pounded some workout. Again, a lot of, a lot of resources and a lot of help. And, you know, a few months later, my man is rocking at 2-6 and he's on his way to go blue. Yeah. It was a while, it was a wild globe. Like, I told you a little bit about it. Like, we played those first two games, and that's like where I got all my scholarship offers off. It's just the, I put those on film and

then they went and then, like he said, like a bunch of coaches would come and like a Harbaal was at Stanford. And he came, he saw my transcript and literally laughed out loud. It was like, there's literally nothing we can do here. And it left. Like, Wisconsin is the same thing. So here's a great story. You're going to love this. He comes with his dad to get registered for school. You see this guy really like walking across the campus. It's the first time I really laid eyes on him other than in the uniform in the game.

I'm looking at him offensive coordinator. We're kind of like in an offback in a room and he's walking across the campus. And I'm just like, man, look at this dude. Freak. That's a left tackle. So I tell Rod, and again, Rod's old school, man. And we had had a kid that had started at left tackle for us, really good high school player. and Ethan Lewis

Brown bear Yes okay yeah I say Rod we're gonna move Ethan to right tackle This is gonna be our left tackle And he was pissed He fought me on it We've got a left tackle

This is this is a left tackle And so he comes on campus And he says I'll never forget this He says to He goes I just got one question for you He said coach like I don't even know if you're gonna remember

But he goes When you guys played me I was playing the nose tackle Did you have to double and triple team me? That's a tough look He's the last questions like that I said let me tell you something We had to create a whole game plan against you

I said we were double in, tripling How at one point we just wedged the whole thing At your ass we couldn't stop you Complete lie as I told you the front end of the story And he looks at his dad Let's go get me signed up That's your fucking facts.

Yeah, it's so funny. And that's how Taylor Loan era started at Sheptown, USA. And then once he got on the field, man, like I love this guy because he's never forgot where he's come from. You know what I mean? And he's just a genuine dude. Like, it's rare in your life to coach someone of his ability, but just he approaches life kind of how I see it.

You know, I got a real fiery personality. And it's either, you know, I'm either in fifth gear or I'm parked. You know what I mean? And it's all in. That's how he approached it on the field and off the field. You know, he was an instant fan favorite. He was an instant students. The students loved him, man.

But it was how he played the game with just a relentless. And I mean, you know, like the dude just played balls to the wall. And there's no substitute for that. And obviously, once he put the stuff on tape, it was a rap. And then once we got the grades where they needed to be, everybody came slinging those offers. Was it basically, like, they saw the first two games or whatever, and everybody was basically lined up, and then it just came down to the transcript.

Yes. I mean, once he was on tape, like, the transcript was so bad in the spring that people were scared away from it, but once he put the stuff on tape, it was too good for people not to come back and check back in. And then they saw, oh, man, he's making that progress. Yeah. You know, but then dues had been,

dues had stayed the course, man, and stayed consistent with me. And then obviously with Taylor's dad's background in the Big Ten and having the affinity for that, obviously he could tell you the rest of that why he chose Michigan. But it was everybody, man. Everybody in their mom wanted this dude. It's been, and it's been fun, like, to sit here and see all of this, man. And, like, it's, it, it, it, it's an emotional for me because how much I love this dude, but it's also just a testament to how hard he's worked and just life, man, you never know.

it's crazy. Yeah, man. Does that make you feel good? Yeah, it makes you feel good. He's one of those when you take compliment. You just got to kind of receive it. I know, yeah. Sit there and take it because it is,

it's tough to get compliment. It's cool to hear, though, because he's somebody who obviously was part of that big process for you and pivot in your life. And it was, I remember, like, you remember, like, you look back in high school now

and you realize, like, how not big of a deal. Like, you made it up in your head because you were so zoomed in high school. Like, we, like, Bragel was always, always good to me, man. Like, I, I didn't get in,

By the time I got to my senior year, I wasn't getting in, like, trouble like I was in the beginning. But, like, I could have done pretty much whatever the fuck I want. And he had my back. And I, but we had a couple of times, we played Swarrow. And I fucking do, it was like going into half. It was like 7-0. And Dwayne Garrett are running back. Who you met Dwayne at dinner last fall.

He makes this diving catch in the back of the end zone. And Dwayne can't fucking catch. You can literally throw it to him 10 times and drop it six of them. Just straight up. He makes this in like crazy catch. I get a face mask call. It gets called back. We end up losing the game.

I remember you guys talked about that. We were going to be 7-7 at half. Yeah. Totally chased the... And four had like eight dudes going D-1. They had that rivalry's nasters. 10,000 people there. It's unbelievable.

Me and the coach got a great feud going to. Like, it's everything was built up to be. And we score, it's going to be 7-7. We're going to go on the half-tide. And we just, that lost all the momentum for us right there. You know, we got the face mask. But my man was doing it. blindside before there was blind side he was putting kids we're out of patchy junction one night

right on a friday night my guy's putting dudes on roller skates and putting them out in the tumbleweeds i mean way out and the thing was is this guy was not shy about sharing his opinion with the officials which as a coach you know that's obviously not what i want yeah and so like the coach throws a flag he's got this literally dude on the track i mean and the coach the ref comes to me and says look man that's just unnecessary roughness he's got this kid 50 yards down the field and i said well I mean, what do you want me to do, man? Like, I can't tell my guy to stop blocking him. That's not what we preach in this program.

So, honestly, you know, I'm going to take the 15. And so he comes, get his ass off the field. I got to talk to him. I bring him over there. Here comes official. Do you remember the rest of the other? He goes, he goes to excessive blocking. Yeah.

And reaching in his pocket. He's like, how much are you getting paid for this? To the rest goes ham, throws another flag. Yeah. And that's what I loved about him, though, man. the dude was just, he had that passion and that intensity that made him a lead. And that's, that's what it was. Like, he's obviously physically gifted.

He could run. He could bend with, with his length, which is rare. But it was the mentality and the passion that he brought to the field every day and off the field, too, that has gotten him where we are today. It was a cool deal, man. Yeah, that's fucking sick, man. Bring it back to ASU, like, you've been in a lot of places. You went to U of A, went over to Cal for a while. while, right? Five years a cow. And then Idaho State, just a nice cup of coffee as a head coach.

For a hot 12 months. Yeah. And, you know, and then obviously, you know, bringing it all back with Coach Ziegler, you know, and I coached Coach Dillingham that first year. So he came my second year. That first year, Kenny was a senior and got hurt and was going to hang up the cleats. And so I got him, you know, I just, he was a smart young man. I just said, hey, man, we got to get this guy into some coaching, you know, and, and, uh, that's how the process of his journey began. And, you know, here we are now back here full circle in, uh, in Tempe working, working for, for Kenny, man. It's, uh, and sitting here doing a podcast with you guys. It's, it's pretty wild. So you were a senior when Coach Dee was about to come in. He, so, uh, coach D was a senior.

He was at, still at Cactus Shadows. Yeah. And so my junior, I transferred in spring break. Like, Kachshows was going on spring break. Shepro was off spring break. And I just took that weekend and then went to the new school. Yeah. And so their season was already done. He was, I didn't even know coach dealing him at all. Because he was a senior, but, you know, he was hurt, couldn't play.

I got, at his really sharp kid. His dad was a very intelligent lawyer that was on our booster club. I got to know his dad. And Kinney had come off some knee injuries and just I got to really build the relationship with Kenny. I'm like, man, this kid's pretty sharp. And I said, what are you going to do, man? And he's like, I think I'm just going to go to eight. you probably be a lawyer like my dad and I was like

well I don't really give a shit what you can I say that on here? Oh yeah he said shit fuck everything. I'm gonna cuss it up in here bro. Yeah yeah. Anyway so I said I don't really care what you do you know in terms of your career but I want you to come back here and coach and that's how the the Kenny D train started rolling out of Shaptown

and and then my man joined the crew that spring after that spring break and you know here we are the rest of history. What would you see in, I was going to say Kenny, Coach Dealingham, yeah. You know what? The thing that I say about Coach Dillingham that is the most impressive is he's always been driven, even at that young of age. You know, I tell the story that we were sitting around one time and we were in a staff meeting

and he's the young, new kid, 18 years old, and he says we were talking about why people do this. And I can't remember what the particular situation was. And he just pops up out of nowhere and just says, you know, it really comes down to one thing, Coach Regal, and I said, well, what's that? He's got all as it is, life. Life principle is, is the juice worth the squeeze? And I looked at this guy and I'm like, pretty perceptive, especially in what we were talking about. And that dude was driven. Like, from that point on that, that quote stayed with me for whatever reason. And then I just watched

him stay focused to what he wanted to do and achieve his goals and to get here at, at the age of 32 years old and be where he's at, man. That takes a resolve that's, you know, young people. And you guys are young, man. It's hard to stay that course with the temptations and the things that come with the success. To stay driven and that goal-oriented tells you a lot about what he is. Oh, really? You know, I just, you can just tell by listening, you're the speech giver. Brother, I told you before we even walked in here. He did, buddy. He seems like the fucking. I got to know, one more thing before we go.

When you were playing Moraine of the first game, senior year, and you gave a speech about your dog, and you're throwing the ball, and the dog dies. died. Is that a real story? That really happened. No shit. The dog was Harley, man. Pure Bread Lab. My wife had it before we got together. We're out Labor Day weekend. We'd come from practice. I'd come home. It's midday. Took the dog out to the park, was throwing the ball. And the dog collapsed. It just collapsed.

How are you funneling that into a pre-game speech? No matter what you do in life, man, you do it until the wheels come off. Like, you've got to be so ingrained in the passion and in the process. You run till the end. It's like you run until. the end, man. There's no limit. Like, it's, you got to be all in or all out. And that's the only way that you really achieve greatness. Most people will never understand

that. Hey, you can tell. Hey, you've got the fucking juice. I'm going to come to Nashville, Nashville, and sit on the bus at some point. Hell yeah, brother. You are invited. You're here. Spring game. Go Devils. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Awesome. Yeah, absolutely.

Let's go do this. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast,

for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French name. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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