The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 444: Kirk Herbstreit - Honoring The Life Of Centerville Football Coach Bob Gregg

Episode Date: November 3, 2021

Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12  https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Kirk Herbstreit played quarterback at Centerville High School. He was a PARADE All-American and the Ohio Player-of-the-Year as a senior (1986) … threw for 1,298 yards and 10 TDs as a senior … also rushed for 576 yards and 16 TDs his final year … career totals of 55 TDs and 4,258 yards in total offense in two years as a starter … led Centerville to a 10-0 record as a junior … all-league in baseball. Currently, Kirk is the lead analyst for ESPN's College GameDay, a TV program covering college football and he is the #1 color analyst on college football games on ESPN and ABC. For his TV work, Kirk has won five Sports Emmy Awards. He is known as one of the best sports broadcasters of all time. Notes: "Coach Gregg was a legend on the field but so much more. He was TOUGH-DEMANDING-at times intimidating. But he taught us about TEAM-HARD WORK-PERSEVERANCE & SACRIFICE. Blessed to have him in my life." "Part of what makes football great is what you learn playing it. Being selfless, learning how to go through adversity as a group, learning about perseverance." When first meeting Coach Gregg, "I was like half scared and half man I  want to play for this guy." The Centerville Elks were about execution, work ethic, pride, and excellence. "I thought... Mannnn, how lucky am I to be part of this program." The summer workouts: "The Monday's and Friday's were bad... The Wednesday with the circuits were DREADFUL. I was scared to death." Coach Gregg had established the "decade of dominance" before Kirk was there. "You had an appreciation and you were in awe of him and the program." "We thought, 'Am I going to be good enough to be part of this program?'" "Those workouts broke me down... And then they built us back up." "As a group, we went through torture, but we did it together. It created this unbelievable bond." "Bob Gregg taught me so much about humility, sacrifice, hard work, team team team... The team is so much more important than you. All the fundamental principles that you use in life are what you learned from him." "The person you are today is because of that." "What I learned from him... We beat teams with superior talent with execution and preparation and our work ethic collectively. And our team. It was from all that work we put in June and July." "You can get a leg up on your competition in anything you do in life by just outworking them." "When you feel like you don't matter, the best thing you can you, how you create confidence, is by outworking everyone in the room. Do little things. Do more. Do more." "I thought work ethic was HERE, before I met Bob Gregg, and then they taught me the hard way, that I was capable of working a lot harder." "Coach Gregg reminds me a lot of Nick Saban." They have incredibly high standards and keep their players humble. "You and I are grinders. All of us that played for him are wired the same way. I don't think that's a coincidence. It's because of Coach Gregg." "His personality... I wish more people got to know him. He had a personality that to outsiders seemed gruff. Some thought he was a tyrant. But if you really got to know him, he was not that way. He had a soft heart." "I think we need more than ever, right now, MORE people like Bob Gregg." "He's going to ruffle some feathers, but he's going to do it the right way."

Welcome to a special midweek bonus episode of The Learning Leader Show. I am your host, Ryan Hawk. This does not sound like a normal episode, and that is because if you listened to the beginning of my previous episode with Rebecca Minkoff, you heard me in a really raw state because the news was so fresh that my high school coach, the legendary Bob Gregg, had just died. died. And I was thinking of him and missing him and I certainly still do. And that's why I shared what I did. And another legend who was at Centerville is Kirk Herb Street. He played quarterback in the mid-80s at Centerville High School. And he is one of the reasons that my family, my mom and my dad, chose to move to Centerville. The other one of the reasons, was for their legendary coach already at that point,

and that is the great Bob Gregg. And Kirk and I were texting back and forth, and I said, why don't we turn on the camera, turn on the microphones, and record to honor Coach Greg. We both want more people. We want the broader world to know Coach Greg. So let's share some stories. So that's what this is.

There's one central theme of this conversation, and that is how the great Bob Gregg changed our lives. And I think it's worth it to take a moment to recognize and to be grateful for the people that have done that for you. And that's what Kirk and I do in this episode. So please enjoy the stories of the legendary coach Greg with Kirk Herbstreet. All right, Kirk, man.

First of all, it's good to see you. As always, you know, I love, love you and your work and everything you do, but you're one of the first guys I thought of when the news came out that our coach, our high school coach, the legendary Bob Gregg passed away last Sunday. He was 88 years old. And I know he's had, certainly I'd say for me, one of the, just other than maybe my parents, my brother's as big of impact on my life as anybody. So, you know, you went through it as well.

I love to first kind of get your thoughts on Coach Craig. Man, like you said, what can you, where do you start? You know, I don't know how your introduction was. I can't remember who and I've spoken about this in the past. See, I moved around a lot. And so I did not grow up in the wee elk. world of you know back in that era I was like man one day I can play for Bob Greg you know and I I knew about him um because I was a high school football junkie growing out but I didn't

I moved around so much that I didn't really hit me until eighth grade I went I moved to about April my eighth grade year I moved to centerville and within the first couple weeks of being there. They said if you're interested in playing ninth grade football, coach Bob Gregg will be at the gym after school for a meeting and kind of go over like schedules and what what it might entail. And so that was my first introduction. And you can imagine being an eighth grader. Maybe you had that same meeting. I was just like, holy cow. What was your first impression? What did he do in that first meeting?

he was just he was just him you know just i i get you like oh herb street you little pretty boy what are you doing here who you think you are him later uh you and me but first thing you can do is become a a individual like accolade type of player even though you don't want anything to do with individual accolades if you happen to get some individual accolades. That's the worst thing you can do for Coach Greg. I'm rushed in your era there. But yeah, he was just like he is. He was like, it was like watching a movie listening to him talk. And I'm looking around the room like, is anyone else as scared as I am right now. I mean, I'm as an eighth grade. And again, I didn't come up hearing and speak at these we elk meetings.

That was my first introduction in seeing him. And I was just like half like I'm scared and half, man, I want to play for this guy. It was kind of my thought, my initial thought. And my ninth grade year happened to be the year that Centerville finally got a chance to play Mueller and beat Mueller in the playoffs. That was my freshman year. I didn't dress on the varsity. I was just a ninth grader and sitting in the stands at Galbraithfield. out over at Kings Island pouring down rain.

And it was one of those games where Centerville, they got a three-yard gain. It was like, yeah, three-yard. You know, it was just like, what anything that happened, it was positive. I was, to this day, of all the games I've ever covered, I'm talking national championships, Rose Bulls, and all these things I've done.

That game, who, that was like, I mean, if Vegas put odds on that game, Centerville was probably a 30-point underdog, I would say. I mean, there was no chance they were winning that game. And so it was one of those, kind of like Ohio State Miami, your brother's freshman year.

If Ohio State got a four-yard gain, it was like, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, there's a chance. You know what I mean? You know, when you watch those kind of games? And so imagine being a freshman and seeing that. And Mueller was number one in the nation. Mueller was mythical back now. I mean, it was just like,

you heard about him, but to see them with your own eyes was like, oh, my God, they had 110 guys on the sideline. And they had like 10 D1 guys. And here's the little Centerville Elk team out there out executing them, effort, pride, everything. And I was like, man, my eyes were that big. Like this program, how lucky am I to be a part of this? You know, so that got me really excited. And then I'll tell you what, I don't know how you felt.

I'm sorry to go on about it, but my sophomore year was probably the worst year of my life. The summer of my sophomore year, getting up at five in the morning. This is before people did that. Getting up at five in the morning. The Mondays and the Fridays were pretty bad. The Wednesdays were the circuit day in that little Nautilus room. were dreadful. I mean, I used to stare at the ceiling, terrified.

Because I don't, two things, I was scared about getting over there and what would happen. And I did not want to not wake up in time. So I'd sleep like, I like, okay, it's two in the morning. Oh, you know, it's 306. So 306. You know, I was like waking up terrified. Dude, it's so weird. We have the exact same feeling like you couldn't even sleep.

And this is all like the making. of Bob Greg turning Centerville into what it became. I'll have to tell you, and I don't know if I've told you this before, but my parents, so neither are from Centerville, but are from Ohio, and we didn't live in Centerville, but when you were making a name for yourself, they decided to move to Centerville. And you were one of the primary reasons why. There was really two reasons you and Coach Gray. And I think they didn't know how good we would.

be we were too young or how talented but I think some of the foresight especially from my dad was this guy was already becoming a legend and you were kind of doing the same I think you were the national player of the year right and so you you were kind of doing that and and and so they moved there and in kind of the script went pretty well considering how things cut the doors open things because so coach Greg my first interaction I never talked to him at all until I was also in eighth grade and it was the spring and he came to me and there was like a freshman coach there in this meeting. I don't remember exactly, but he's like, hey, you need to come work out with us in a summer. I was like, what do you mean? He's like, you got a freshman are fine. And I had a really

good class. You had to come work out with us. So we show up at this time. You know, it was like for something by then. You know, it was always earlier. Yeah. Get here and work out with us. And I was like little and skinny. And my eighth grade season, I was like decent, you know, like a decent, player. But the one thing that I will say, and this is kind of helped me for my life, I bet it does for you too. I gained so much confidence. June, those terrible workouts, July with the coming back at night and having to run and die like those. Then passingly, you came to our last passing league. On Wednesday nights, we would do this passing league in July. You came to it. Our, my last one, they had me start with the ones.

Then I met you, I think for the first time then. And, and, you know, I played well and it gave me a chance then to play as a freshman. But I think that's one of the things now from a leadership perspective from Coach Greg that he gave me more belief in myself than I had in myself. And I was curious to hear like how and what he did for you going from. a freshman to this sophomore year that's terrible in the summer, but all of a sudden you become Kirk Herb Street. And I have to believe that he played a giant role in that. Yeah.

And for people that don't know who he is, we're not exaggerating here. I mean, you really have to go back. I mean, he came into Centerville High School in the mid-70s and built this behemoth. You know, it was a program that had potential, but it was kind of a community that had a reputation of being kind of a, upper middle class, didn't know how to work, soft. And he came in as a tyrant, basically chasing kids off the team. If you don't want to work the way we work, then get out of here kind of mentality.

And that was in the mid-70s. And so when I got there eight or nine, 10 years later, they had already established this dominance. And so I think you need that perspective to understand that you had to respect the Centerville Elk Pride way before you really were part of that. You had an appreciation and almost an all of like you were joining a fraternity and are, am I, you know, am I going to be good enough to be a part of that based on my work ethics? So that, just for people that don't understand, that, that's what it was. And so, you know, those nightmare mornings on on June and July of my sophomore year, you know, it broke me down initially.

And the thing that got me through it was my classmates. You know, I look around and my guys that were coming like brothers to me, they were suffering, but they were going forward. So we were all as a group going through like just torture, it felt like. But we were all doing it together. And so it created this unbelievable bond. And I think when you when you stack that up class after class after class. And once that sophomore class gets kind of initiated in and gets accepted by the senior class

and you do that year after year after year, that's where you have what we had. And so the reason I came back wasn't like Al Bundy and Polk High, like can't let go of the high school glory years. It was just like I think you said, there was a sense of pride, what this thing. and what it was before you got there and what it was after you left. And you were just proud of what that was and what it was doing for other kids because of what it did for you. So that's like the bigger picture of Centerville football and Bob Gregg and his culture. For my own personal journey, I was kind of a tall, lanky guy, athletic enough.

We were running this back then, a kind of a split veer, which was really challenging for a kid to try to learn how to read a triple option. You went through that. You know what I mean? For people that have done that, it's very different than being in a shotgun where you're reading it. You have a little bit more time. It's like two different sports. I think they play basketball now, man. I mean, it is legitimately two different sports when you talk about.

vision made yeah it's just it's just like that you know and so your sophomore year man maybe for you your freshman year you're headed manning and he's hitting you you know the back of the helmet or or the senior quarterback's getting maddie yang you're just like so and that's all part of it and then my sophomore year man i just started to kind of figure it out a little bit and and i started to kind of push the senior a little bit and and started to realize I had a, you know, a long run against, I think it was Carol, middle of the year, like 70 or 80 yards. And it was like the light went off for me. Like, wow, I think I can do this, you know. And fortunately for me, I don't know if you know this or not. So that summer, that spring, Bob Gregg and Ron Ulrey went out to Colorado

Springs and visited with the Air Force Academy and brought back with them the triple option from the wishbone. And so my junior year, we incorporated the wishbone. And that's when things went to a whole another galaxy. It was just for whatever reason, it just fit with me. I just saw things, play action off of it. It just clicked. But, you know, the more I kept doing well, the more Bob Gregg would like bring me back down. He taught me just so much about in his own way, which you can appreciate, humility, sacrifice, hard work, perseverance, team, team being so much more important than you. and when you look at your life, whether it's, you know, in your case, what you do with your job, you know, you look at your marriage, look at it being a dad, all the fundamental principles that

you use in life or what you learned at those formidable ages of 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 years old of being around this guy. And so I think the reason, you know, when you hear about his passing, everybody just like, whoa, like I knew he was getting older and I heard his health wasn't necessarily the greatest, but man, when it, the reality of it hits you, it's like, bang, you know, and it just, you go back and you just think about all the, you know, all the things that you went through and all the things he taught you. And the person you are today is because of that. Yeah, man, I, those things that you take on forever, like, I remember when I got to college and I played at two different schools, but you talk a lot with all the guys like, what was your high

school like? What was your high school? Like, what was your experience like? And I'm sure you got this from guys at Ohio State. You know, we'd go to winter workouts in college and summer workouts in college and all that stuff. And I know, Asia and I have talked about this. Not that they weren't hard in college. They were definitely hard, but nothing was like what we did in high school, not even close. But to all of our teammates, they were like, I've never done anything this hard in my entire life. And the sense. Denver guys are like, this was kind of a below average, kind of an easy. It's still hard, but still kind of an easy day versus just a normal, random day of an

offseason workout at Centerville, as far as when you wake up and what you're going to do and kind of the mental anguish, as you mentioned, you go through all the time. The reason I think going through that I'm so grateful now is because in a way, like, it makes everything else easier. Like you're the number one, you're the best broadcaster in sports right now. I say sports, not football, and sports. And I know a big reason, and we've talked about this, is your preparation and your work ethic and certainly the passion for it. Can you share maybe more about that you learn that at Centerville?

You learn that from Bob Gregg and Ron Allery in the Centerville Football Program and how that and still implementing and utilizing the same things you learned when you were 14, 15, 16 to now to be the best broadcaster in sports. Yeah, it's 100% accurate. You know, the work ethic for me, it's, it's, it's, when I look in the mirror, I still see a guy trying to prove himself and still like going through my job with it kind of a chip on my shoulder. And I do think it goes back to, number one, the way you're wired, but also number two, I think just the way we couldn't beat probably six teams that we played back in our day.

Your team was incredibly talented. But our teams, we probably couldn't beat. We just lined up. We worked out like they did back in those days. Those teams, they'd work out a little bit, throw the ball around, you know, in June and July. And then they really started up in August. Well, we just went through what we went through in June and July. I mean, we'd already put a season in June and July.

these guys are just getting started. So what I learned was, man, we're beating Princeton and even like back then, Fairmont and Wayne and these teams that have superior talent than us, but we're beating them like a drum with just execution and preparation and work, our work ethic collectively and our teamwork and our bond, all those things, that's how we're beating them. And our execution, a big part of that was because all that work we put in June and July. So what I learned was you can get a leg up on your competition and anything you do in life by just outworking them.

If you're ever looking, I tell my kids this all the time, like Ty, my son ties us as a slot receiver of Clemson. And right now he's in basically his second year. And he's trying to get a little bit of traction. And I said, Ty, the only thing I tell you is because I went through some tough times at Ohio State. When you feel like you don't matter on a roster, the best thing you can do, because people aren't paying attention, how you create confidence is by outworking the guys in that room with you. You don't have to tell anybody about it. They don't need to pat you on the back. You just, for your own good, outwork them. Do little things. Do more. Do more. Do more. Do that for a day. Do it for a week. Do it for two weeks. Do it for a couple months. then in a year.

And all of a sudden, you're going to walk around feeling really good about yourself. That's the only way you can dig yourself out of a hole is to stack up days and weeks and months and years of preparation. And all of that for me, I still do that. Before we were on this, after we go off on a Wednesday for me, it's all like looking at film, all this stuff I get to do to get ready for Saturday. And thank God. I don't know what I would have done.

I thought work ethic was here before I met Bob Gregg. And then they taught me the hard way that my work ethic is actually capable of being here, like at a whole different level. And if you don't have that person in your life, you know, I feel bad. Hopefully people find that person, whether it's a parent, a teacher, a coach, somebody that can kind of show you what your limitations, maybe you thought they were and where they actually are. but Bob Gregg, Ron Alrey, and that group at Centerville, they taught all of us that.

And like you said, I think every day you should be grateful for having them in our lives. And you talked about being humble. I think that's another attribute of yours. It's talked about in your book that you released this year as well. But I remember those Saturday mornings. I'd love to hear what yours were like. But I remember as we got better, the Saturdays got worse. and Saturday is when you watched the film from the game the night before.

And so meaning it was, you know, we won a number of games by 40, 50 points. And though he could tell, and he trained his whole staff to be, to never let us get comfortable or never let us think that we were amazing. He would push us and build up confidence so that we could perform at a high level when the lights were really bright. but also knew kind of when to turn the dial to say, who do you think you are? Right. Like on Saturday mornings, like you'll, you could score five touchdowns, but I'm sure you made some mistakes out of all the snaps. And those are going to be highlighted.

He's going to have a little clicker and be using a laser or whatever. Like, what are you doing here? And I think in a way, I've never forgotten all of that regardless. And obviously you've accomplished so much, regardless of you went all these Emmys and everything. Regardless of all that, think back to that. And I'm really grateful that there are these amazing leaders who were really good at keeping me humble and at keeping me striving to improve. And I think I've taken that mindset of

no matter what, no matter what happens. And AJ and I talk about this a lot, no matter what happens, we can improve. We can get better. And it sounds like like that's the same way that you approach your job because now you could, I bet you could mail. it in on some Saturdays. You're talented enough, you're knowledgeable enough, you've done it enough for a long enough time that you could probably mail it in and still be really good. And yet you've just never done that. You never do that. And it's evident in your work. And I think that's the other part of this of remaining humble, despite all of the amazing awards and everything that you've won. And it's, you're so right on those Saturdays. You know,

you'd in our case we would you kind of jog four laps and and go in and watch the film and you're right it reminds me a lot of nick savin you know i'm around coach saving a lot um over these last 15 years and you're either in his circle or out of it and for whatever reason i'm in his circle and i've always watched him you know his clothes practice will be closed and i'll watch him real close just i've always observed him just watched him minds me a lot of coach gregg actually and If you ever watch them on TV, you can get a feel for him. If they're playing LSU or they're playing Auburn and they're in a club A&M a few weeks ago and they're in a struggle, you ever notice he's, I don't want to say docile, but he's much calmer. If they're up by 40 on Arkansas, God forbid a safe of a bust or a linebacker not being the right gap, he loses. So all these videos you ever see him losing his mind. it's when they're up, you know, and it's what we went through.

You know, you have a big game on a Friday night as a 16 or 17-year-old. You're feeling pretty good about yourself, your mom and dad, everybody's happy, your girlfriend's happy, your buddies are happy, and quickly you learn, you're not all that, you know, you're not all that. You think you're all that? Yeah, come on in here. Let me show you how all that you are. You know, and it's easy to say it now, but when you're,

when you're going through those first experiences, scoring touchdowns, man, this is what you always dreamt of doing and this is happening. And then he just cuts you off at the knees and a heartbeat. And while it hurt a little bit then,

it was very, very useful thing. Like you said, you and I are grinders. You know, no matter what you do, no matter what AJ does, me,

my buddies that played for him, we're all wired exactly the same. So I don't think that's a coincidence, right? I think it's it's got to come. We don't have all the same parents. It all goes back to that. It all goes back to how we were treated within that program, whether you were Ryan Hawk or me or a guy that was just happy to be on the team.

Everybody got that. You know what I mean? That's pretty special. And it's the standard, right? There's this standard of excellence. Before me, there was these decades of dominance. That's what they were called. They were written up on the wall and there was the tradition, which started when he became the coach and went for decades before I even got there. And it was, that's what I think like from a leadership perspective at any business, this is not the easy way. It is certainly a harder way. It is possible. It's been proven by certain leaders if you're willing to lift the levels of standards, to have the standard of excellence. But you have the standard of excellence. But you have. have to, as a leader, the tough thing is you got to go first, right? You have to always hold yourself

to that standard. And I think that's what, not only him, I, I didn't realize how hard, the best coaches, I don't Kirk, I'd be curious, the best coaches I played for in Coach Greg being at top of this list, they were so hard on their staffs. You know what I mean? I'd never seen a head coach be hard on an assistant coach until I got, got there. And maybe, maybe not even as much afterwards, but he was so tough on his guys, his assistant coaches. He held them to the standard to hold their guys to the standard, and we all were better for it. But it's just like a CEO of a business.

That's what a head coach of a team, I think, can be. And to see him kind of publicly be tough, really hard on those assistants. And then coach, all right later is the exact same way, who's still coaching now. That, I think, is a key learning from a leadership perspective of having standards of excellence and holding yourself to them first, but then all of your other senior leaders which are your assistance in a staff's case to it as well. I think that was a big part of it that I learned. Yeah, and I think as you're saying that,

I'm thinking through and picturing those moments that he did do that. And whether it was Noff or Coach Noff, the defense coordinator, for people who aren't familiar with him and Ron Ulry, who was back then the O.C, you're right. I mean, he had no problem checking them in front of us. us. And I think the most important thing because sometimes, you know, it's emotional sport. Sometimes those coaches would bristle a little bit, you know. And I think the reason they, they took it themselves is because it was fair. It was the way he did it was he held himself

accountable, but he was fair. He wasn't just a bully that was going off. Like, they knew if he was coming at him, there was a reason for that. And they may not like to hear him. And they may not like to hear it just like we didn't like to hear it. But there was a reason he was doing it. And I think when you're a leader, you're a CEO, you're a chairman, I do think holding yourself as accountable, it's not more accountable than everybody else. People see that. Like if you don't hold yourself accountable and then you're going to start pointing fingers,

that's not going to fly. But I think Coach Greg was, his personality, you know, I wish people that don't know him would have had a chance to be around him because he had a if you didn't know him he was gruff you know he had a bark about him that a lot of people that they didn't know him would complain about or just think he was he was like i say a tyrant or just out of touch but if you really got to know him he was not that way at all um he had a soft heart you know it's funny kirk the uh i've i've witnessed now since it's been about a week the the social media postings of his former students, not former players. And a lot of these are women now.

And these, I've seen maybe more from women than guys about how he was as a teacher, as a gym teacher, and how much they loved this guy. I took his gym class too. So like, I got to see it. And it was pretty, like we got after it in that gym class. But the, the students have this. It's really cool to see this amazing love for the guy and they never played for him. They just had they just took his gym class. Totally. Or special needs. You know, the folks.

I mean, he he was all about, you know, having fun with them and, and just talking to them like they're just one of the guys or one of the gals or whatever. And they were part of the, the student body. And he just treated them like they were just, you know, and sometimes, you know, he would be with them and, and we would just be like trying to be like, polite or and he would just come out and just say something you know, I'm just like, oh my gosh, you know, but it was his way of engaging and just be treating them like that one of the regular students. So he'd bust on them or like he bust on us, you know, and I'm like, gosh,

I can't believe he's doing that. But I think along with the regular students, if it's one, he's one of those guys, if he's busted on you and kind of teasing you, he's loving on you. Right. You know, and everybody that, you know, that went to school there and got a chance to be around him, they got a chance to really feel that. And that's why I think so many people in that era were so supportive of the football program. It was because it wasn't, you know, although look at these big football players think they're hot stuff. It was more of just they felt because of Coach Craig, and hopefully the players, but reaching out and being just, you know, a regular guy. they felt like they could relate to him and they wanted to support him as much as supporting the football program. But yeah, that's cool to hear that people are reaching out like that and letting folks know how important of a person he was in their lives.

One more. Do you think his style would work today in high school football? It happens to the right spot, the right community. You know, even back, think about this. even in the 70s and 80s, there was pushback. Dave McDaniel, I have a letter here that he sent me about my book. It was really touching great letter that he sent me. And he was really in the whole book that I wrote,

he was interested in the elk pride part that I talked about within that book. I did a whole chapter on it. And he was, because he had a son that played Scott. And he was just talking about being the head. principal at having a son and he said you would not imagine the letters and the phone calls that I got from parents that thought that Bob Gregg wasn't good for our school and for our community and how many of those I had to talk to and defend Coach Greg and all the things that you're talking about because I talk a lot about what I got out of my time there he's like my son Scott got

that, all his friends, all so many people that I was the head principal for, got those things that you talked about. And just think if we would have listened to that, those people that were complaining. So could it work today? It's obviously a very different world, as you know, but I think we need more than ever more Bob Grex. You know, I, but I think it would take a really strong athletic department and athletic director and a, and a, you know, a superintendent, principal, people that would understand, hey, he's going to ruffle some feathers, but he's going to do it the right way. He's going to teach our kids, you know, the right way to go about things and teach them and impact them for the rest of their lives. It would take that. I'd like to think we can

still hire guys like Bob Gregg and Bo Schembeckler and those type of coaches. But, you know, I think it would just take a very, very unique community that would see the pluses versus the minuses. I had some meals and meetings. You've probably done this from time, time with people who are looking at where to send their kid. Maybe it's a quarterback or somebody like that. And I remember this is when Coach Ron Oliver was a coach who you and I, you know, obviously both adore and he's right there with Coach Greg on on that list of people who have impacted us. And they said, yeah, but I look at the offense that you run. You don't throw the ball enough or I don't know how you're going to get the big time scholarship offer.

And I said, like, whatever the offense is, whatever the stats are, you send your kid there because of the type of person that he's going to become. That's why you send your kid there. And I'm a firm believer that if it becomes the type of person that the Bob Greggs and Ron Allerys produce, and I think Brent Allerie, who's Ron son who's the current coach is in the same vein. And it's certainly as he as he gets more experience, will continue to be like that. You send them there for the people that they're going to become. And that's why you do it.

And then the scholarship offers, if you're good, right, you'll get it. Right. I mean, we ran that offense. I threw the ball far less as a senior than I did as a freshman and a sophomore because we were winning by so much. The offers were still there. Right.

So I think, and I think a lot of it was because of the person that those guys shaped and formed me into. So that's why I'm like, if you're fortunate enough to find a community or to live in a community where that exists, just be grateful, be grateful, you know. Yeah, that's great advice, you know, and it's something to keep in mind. I say, man, it's so interesting today, that position especially. Yeah. When it comes to these summer camps, and I don't know if you work with kids or not, but, you know,

quarterback coaches now, you imagine if you went through it today. with your skill set when you went. I didn't have, I never really had any of that until I got to college. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, I'm saying if Ryan Hawk came through today, who knows, in eighth grade, and ninth grade, I mean. Your son, you have a son who's at St. X, right? Yeah.

And a big part of why we moved there, it's as you were telling that story, was because of the culture. You know, with so many. Is he a quarterback? He's the only one of my four that plays quarterback. Wow. And is he a freshman? freshman at St. X. How's he doing?

Good, good. It's a first day we showed up in June, kind of like Centerville. 105 kids. We're on the team. We left a school in Nashville where there were 30 maybe kids, maybe that went out. So we show up at St. X. There's over 100 and maybe five kids, nine quarterbacks. Oh, nine.

Wow. It dwindled down to four, and now it's three. But you know what? I'm a guy that loves adversity for my kids. I love that he's, him and two other guys were kind of battling it out. The other two guys did a great job. Chase did a good job. They just kind of rotated around.

You get a half, you get a half. The third guy sits. Next game, the guy that sits, he plays, the guy that was the first half, goes to the second. They just kind of rotated around for their games. Their season's over. But he had a great time. He's meeting people. He's getting kind of getting comfortable with the school and the culture and being at a Jesuit school, which is new for him. But yeah, man, Steve Spex. I mean, at the end of the day, he wanted to play quarterback. My mom and Allie's mom are getting older. We wanted to be back close to home. And, you know, we just thought,

I always have admired St. X the way they run their program and we'll see how it goes. That's that's where they have a new offensive coordinator that's come up from Trinity down at Louisville and really runs almost like a college offense. So, but the culture, I think, is the most important aspect of deciding to go there and the respect you have for the way they operate their program. Again, much like, much like Centerville. I figured when I read about that, that I go, I don't know that coach, but I would imagine that Kirk probably sees some Ron Allery and Bob Gregg and that guy.

And that's why he wants his son, who's a quarterback to get to experience that. Really cool, man. Hey, man, thanks for jumping on, especially late notice. I know I just sent you a text because I, you know, other than my brother, you're one of the centerville guys,

obviously, that I just wanted to talk to because I wasn't really sure how I was going to feel, but it hit me really hard, really hard. And I haven't seen Coach Greg in a while, but I still think about them all the time, all the time. And so when you all of a sudden, you're like, oh, it's this finality of it that, you know, he passed that it hurts. It's like physically hurts. But it does make me feel a little better to talk to somebody like you who went through the exact same stuff, man. Thanks so much, man.

Oh, dude. Are you kidding me? I appreciate the text and the chance to reminisce. I'm sorry, I won't be able to be there Friday and Saturday. I'll be there in spirit. I was hoping it would be on a day where I'd be in town because I don't care where I was. I'd be there. So I'm sure you'll have a chance to meet with a lot of your former teammates and a lot of former players in general.

Just celebrate it, obviously. And I know you guys will do that. So it's great to be with you. Yeah, ma'am. We will. We will. Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. You got it.