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- [00:02]
A
Dive into the dynamic world of high school sports. Whether you're a seasoned athletic director, a newcomer to the field, or simply curious to learn more about this exciting profession, this podcast is your go to resource for inspiration, education and a deeper understanding of the game changing decisions that shape the world of high school athletics. Welcome back to AD360. I'm Greg Van Reed joined as always by with Scott and Rosenberg today. Scott, we're talking about some something that every athletic director will face at some point. Stepping into a new role, stepping into a new school, leading through transition. But before we dive into that, how are you doing today, my friend?
- [00:43]
B
I'm good. Everything is great. Sun is shining here in New Jersey, at least for the rest of the week. We were joking yesterday, right? Like it's 80 degrees and possible snow on like Monday. So perfect for what we potholes here in New Jersey. That's the thing. If anybody's looking for a new gig, they should be fixing potholes.
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A
Sounds like it would be a job security situation right there out there, 100%. How you doing, man?
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B
You're good?
- [01:11]
A
I'm doing well. I'm excited today. You know, we, we always get excited around here when we have a guest and today we're going to be joined by someone who's lived this experience multiple times over, you know, had multiple stops. We're joined by Jeremy Eubank, athletic director at Prince Edward County High School. He's going to talk to us here today what it looks like for an AD as they step in to a brand new environment. They're transitioning into a new school. They're taking over and leading through transition. So we're super excited to have you on here today, Jeremy, but before we dive in, want to welcome you onto the show.
- [01:48]
C
Awesome. Great to glad to be here. I really do appreciate the opportunity from you guys and really excited to share kind of how we are doing the onboarding process for me at a new school and then how we are incorporating our students with this as well.
- [02:05]
A
Fantastic. Well, let's go ahead and dive into some of the questions that Scott and I have got for you today. You know, one of the first ones that comes to mind for me is you're arriving to a new school, new environment. What's the very first thing that you're looking to try and understand about the campus community, the culture of the actual school itself? What are you looking for in those situations?
- [02:28]
C
Absolutely. I think the biggest thing is, and I do a lot of teaching for the via as well, is you sit and listen to the community Members, your superintendent, your principal, because they're all from here, Right. And if you're moving into that new community, you want to know what the culture is, you want to know what the community is saying, how do you get them involved? What are things that they're looking for? Right. How do you tie that into the needs slash wants of your student athletes, your coaches, your programs, all of that, while also trying to meet community needs and engagement. And I think the biggest thing that I've been trying to do intentionally is listen to everybody's, you know, feedback, good or bad. Right. Is what can we accomplish year one? What can we accomplish years two and three? And then what's going to take a little bit more time to get to that level?
- [03:19]
A
I love that personally. I love that because it's the listen and learn approach. You're going in a blank slate, if you will. You're not necessarily going in with preconceived notions. You want to hear firsthand of what's taken place. I really like that approach because it's giving you the opportunity to be open to learning of what's going on rather than having, okay, I've predetermined. These are, these are the me's. It's like you haven't even lifted the hood yet. You don't know what's broken.
- [03:45]
C
Absolutely, I'd agree.
- [03:49]
B
Look, listen, learn as much as you can for probably what, like three quarters of the first year. It's interesting though. I absolutely believe in that. But I also wonder, like, in my experience and talking with other ads too, oftentimes you do need to come in with maybe a couple non negotiables. Right. Like there are certain things that I as a leader in athletic department kind of require, no matter where I am. It's not based necessarily on the culture. There's just these non negotiables. So I wondered, like, do you have any of those non negotiables, core principles you established from day one and then how do they help guide you as you're learning that new school or system?
- [04:31]
C
Absolutely. And I'll be honest with you, I'm a principle of habit. Right. I think my biggest thing that I have said since day one is we are going to reinforce education based athletics. And most of us know what that means is it's working on fundamentals on and off the field, both life skills, physical requirements, character development, all of that. In saying that, I think the biggest thing that we have seen is we've seen growth in academics, we've seen growth in discipline on and off the field. We've seen growth in our athletic performances, but I think we're also modeling the right things in regards to the leadership from our superintendent down to our principals and assistant principals to myself. And I think if you're modeling those habits or routines or behaviors, it's going to lead to your coaches and then your student athletes. Right. And I think having that type of, I would say principles or guiding principles that that actually adds a lot of value to your culture, your program or philosophy that you're trying to build within your department.
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B
I love, I love like the walk. The walk kind of attitude. Right. And role model.
- [05:37]
C
Yeah.
- [05:38]
B
Give me one. Give me one that you're like, this is a non negotiable.
- [05:44]
C
Absolutely. I think my one non negotiable that I said day one, you will not be on my fields if you don't have the grades and you don't have the attendance and discipline. And I think that's the biggest thing from day one that they have seen. I've pulled kids off the field for both. Well, actually all three of those categories. And I think I've done that in every stop that I've been at. I think the biggest thing that I would say is you have to have the support of your admin, your superintendent and others and really the parents. Right. It does start at home. We have not had any rushback with that and I think that's been the biggest support is that they understand what we're trying to do. And I've been very blessed to be able to have the support that I've had From our superintendent, Dr. Jones, our principal, Jessica Tibbs, and then our assistant principals, Andrea Felder, Jason Lee, Mary Jane Cook. They have been tremendous in helping me understand the community because they're all from here. Right. And then I'm coming in as the new guy or the new kid on the block, no pun intended, showing my age a little bit.
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B
Right.
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C
Is just trying to come in there and understand that do we want to be Mark or do we want to be Donnie Wahlberg? Right. What are we really looking at?
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B
Nkotb. I can say that fast.
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C
There you go. I figured you like that reference, Scott.
- [07:03]
B
Oh, that's a good one.
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A
I think that that might be one of my top references we had on the show so far.
- [07:07]
B
There you go. I mean that's great. Listen, you know this and that's why you preach it, right? Like every study will show you that kids involved in education based athletics, like their grades are usually are better during the season. Their discipline is. Or you Know, their behavior is better during the season, and they're in school more because they're actively participating in sports. So you are 100%, you know, like, sort of, again, walking that walk and making sure that you're keeping these kids on the straight now for their own good. I love that.
- [07:41]
A
Let's talk a little bit just about, like, relationships. Scott and I on this show have always stressed relationships and the. The world of an athletic director are a very important piece of what you're doing. Stronger the relationship, the more you can get accomplished. What's your strategy? You know, to build trust early, as you said, you. You're the new kid on the block, aiming to be the front man, not the. Not the back. Not the back side singer. But with coaches, athletes, parents, how do you look to establish and cultivate those relationships? And how do you get them to trust you early on? They don't know you. They don't know what you're looking to do. How do you approach that?
- [08:23]
C
Absolutely. I think being present or visible is the biggest part of that. Right. Taking an interest in not just the game that's happening. Because obviously, as an athletic administrator, you're in charge of every aspect of a contest that happens.
- [08:35]
B
Right.
- [08:36]
C
I think it's actually being able to take the time to talk to parents, talk to community members that make the effort to come to your contest to support the students that are participating. I think having that opportunity to get in front of community members, things of that nature, has been tremendous for me. And something that I learned from my mentor, which I know he's going to be listening to this at some point when I send this to him, is the number one advice he told me is you always have to be visible and present at any athletic contest. That means off your phone, that means walking around, talking to people, talking to the umpires or the officials before the baseball or softball game, making sure that at the end of the day, like our coaches, 95% of them are out of the building. That's the only time they get to see me is at practice, in games, making sure that they have some contact before and after the game to go over some of those things that go on that they may not be aware of, of discipline or other than me shooting a quick text during the day of, hey, this kid can't play because X, Y and Z, or this kid was out of school. You know, I think that's the one thing that we kind of lose sight of, is, yes, we have a lot going on at the game, but we also need to make sure that we check in on our student athletes or check in on our parents, coaches, all those things that go into that.
- [09:52]
A
I think that's a very good point to make because so many times, you know, early on when I was making the transition into an AD role, I was thinking of all the different things I've got to do and winning over the trust of one of my coaches. The simplest thing I did was I went out and I watched a preseason game, and it was somebody that wasn't really talking to me much, hasn't gotten in the new role. I was overseeing them. Kind of short with me. I showed up present, and next thing I know, it's like they open up, they begin talking to you more because they see that you're bought in. You know, nobody's steal. That is, no one cares what you know until you show them how much you care.
- [10:31]
B
Right.
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A
And you've got to do that from the jump. So I. I like that one, Scott.
- [10:37]
B
Yeah. I mean, being present and walking around, so interesting. I think ads are dealing more and more with adjunct coaches and, you know, people not in the building. It's just getting harder and harder to find coaches in the building. And so it's like you. You. I always say my favorite time of the day was lunch duty because I got to be around the kids and you get to touch base with the kids. But I think it's really smart, what you said, Jeremy, in terms of, like, finding time before, after the game to touch base with coaches, because it used to be, well, I'll just see him at the water cooler. They'll just stop in my office and, like, you know, shoot the crap for a little bit. But they're not in the building anymore, a lot of them. So finding that time to connect with the coaches also becomes truly important. That communication tool.
- [11:26]
C
That's a great reference that you mentioned. Water cooler. I had not heard that one before.
- [11:31]
B
We use that because somebody, you know, often ask, like, do you miss being an ad? And I'm like, I mean, I got lots of answers for that, but one of them is definitely, I miss the water cooler. I miss being around the people, you know, and shooting the crap. So first. Absolutely. So transition often means inheriting existing systems, staff expectations. How do you evaluate what to keep, what to adjust, what to rebuild as you come in as somebody new.
- [12:04]
C
Absolutely. I think the biggest thing. And I'm going to use the southern term here.
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B
Right.
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C
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
- [12:10]
B
Right.
- [12:10]
C
Like, if it's working for you and your school system or your department. Why would you try and change it? Right. Excuse me. There are things here that have been working. We're not going to change. There are things here that obviously we have had to change since day one just because we needed to be able to start the squeezer correctly. I think the biggest thing from an early win standpoint for this first year for anybody would be is listen, figure out what systems you might want to implement that work for you and how you operate. Because like I mentioned earlier, I am a system of habit. I like having my daily routines. I like being able to do the things that I need to on a daily basis. So that. Because I typically block off my schedule from 2:30 on. I don't take any other meetings. I don't respond to emails. I'll respond to a phone call or text because it's going to be necessary, probably relevant to contest we have going on later on that evening. But I think the other aspect of that is what was your task when you came into the new school from your superintendent, your principal? And I think having that task and I have it in front of me 90% of the time on my desk or hanging on the wall or somewhere of what my objectives are. And I'm very intentional with the language I use and I use objectives compared to goals. And I say that because objectives to me are never ending. It allows me to adapt. Right. Because that's a key word in athletic administration. You have to be able to adapt to the situations and circumstances, sorry circumstances that you're going to face. Because in you2 know this, as an athletic administrator you have to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. You have to be able to adapt. You have to be able to have difficult conversation conversations. And I think that's the biggest things with the early wins we had, we addressed our on field discipline issues, knock on wood. We've had zero ejections all school year for all sports and activities. And now we're in the running for the sportsmanship award for the state of Virginia for Class 2.
- [14:06]
B
Right.
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C
That's an early win for me in my first year that I really wanted to do. And we're halfway through the spring season. I'm hopeful we're going to get there.
- [14:15]
B
You know, don't touch the money. But that's, that's great. I love, I love that any software like things systems in place that you immediately said this is amazing that maybe you didn't have before things you felt like you needed to bring to the school in terms of that piece.
- [14:43]
C
Absolutely. And being a millennial I would say understanding the advances that there are in technology and just what I do through my own personal content and all that, you get to know a lot of these vendors and you get to understand what works for you, what doesn't work. Right. I think the biggest thing that I have seen for me is you need to take the time to train on many different platforms. And I have been very fortunate at the schools that I've been at. I've been able to use many different platforms. What I will say is everybody's going to have the right fit for what works for your platform and things of that nature. From a standpoint of us in public school in Virginia, Go Fan has been amazing because everybody uses it. Right. So it's very easy to get the, the ticket link or the QR code for another game and away contest. I think the being able to have the 24 hour support, that's another amazing opportunity that we have with that, I think. And I'll use a couple other vendors like Campus Multimed, Box Out Sports, you know, A Better Way Athletics. They have also been amazing and just what my relationship has been in the past. But also understanding is this something that Jeremy can actually come with at a new school based off of his last school? Is it going to work? Right. And I think part of that is like we didn't have social media when we first started at this school. We implemented this and you know, luckily we've gotten up to pretty close to 500 followers on Instagram. We're a little bit over that on Facebook. But like for us, we have more views and more, I guess, interactions or impressions through Facebook because it is a community based. So we're going to actually next year focus more on the events page that Facebook offers to try and get more attendance to our games and things of that nature. And some of the things that you guys also offer from a camp standpoint for play on sports, that's something else we're going to evaluate as we get further into developing our athletic program here at Prince Edward.
- [16:40]
B
Yeah, appreciate all that. It's like I would imagine you sit in your mind, you're like, I hope this software will work well at the new school. I'm going to, if you like it. But I like the idea of kind of being open minded, understanding. I might like it all I want, but it may just not fit for the school I'm in.
- [17:01]
C
Absolutely. I think the other aspect of that too, and we kind of talked a little bit about this beforehand, is we were very fortunate with our relationships with Our Career in Tech school, Hampton Sydney College and Longwood University. I was able to implement a program that we've done is we have work based learning at our Career Tech School for Sports Business. So we have high school students that are learning how sports business works through their business elective that they're taking for career tech. And then just based off of a program that I developed at the last couple schools I was at, we have college interns from those two colleges and universities that I just mentioned. So like I have 10 this spring season to get us through the season with us being a one man department in athletics.
- [17:46]
B
I love that. In fact, that might be one of those things we try and hit you up for like a curriculum or something because that's got to be a popular class. And I'm sure colleagues across the country would be really interested in understanding that work based learning class that's centered around like running, athletics and athletics in general. That's really cool.
- [18:06]
C
It is. And you know, one of the things I'll mention to you guys is they're learning also how to use these platforms. So when they go to college or if they're in college, they're more, I guess, light in a resume standpoint for a vendor or a company or organization because they already have experience with that company or vendor.
- [18:27]
B
It's back to that old school model, probably NKOTB days, right. When Whirlpool would supply the washing machine or the ovens or the stoves for classes so that the people in those classes sort of like learn to cook or do laundry using those machines. They were gonna probably use those when they became consumers. So it's kind of cool. Cool model. Love it.
- [18:50]
A
Next one we kind of want to talk on. This is another topic that Scott and I bring up quite a bit on our, on our podcast is communication and importance of it. You know, it can make or break you in a transition, I would assume. Right. And really, as you're entering the new role, entering the new school, how do you, how do you want to set the tone for your communication style, your level of transparency and, you know, the new leader in the room? How are they going to communicate to everybody across the board is kind of the, the question that I'm hitting at right now.
- [19:27]
C
I think the biggest thing is being adaptable to what may or may not have worked in the past for the athletic department or what may be your nature or style. And that adaptability would then speak volumes onto what you might want to do going forward. I think the biggest thing for me in what we have seen is they understand we're going to use SportsU for parents and students. We're going to use the calendar function of that for practices and games and announcements. But we're also going to make sure we're checking our emails, we're checking our text messages or phone calls. I'm a big Google person where we. We have an athletic department folder. We share the end of the school year, but we also have a spreadsheet of all 12 months so that they can see their game schedule. And I call it my bible because it is really my lesson plan book. Right. To use a teacher reference. It is my lesson plan book where it's where I'm changing games. It's where transportation can see those things as it happens in real time, where they get to see, okay, he had to change this because is it a transportation. Is it weather? Right. Do we have enough interns to help run the concession or whatever it may be? I think the other aspect of that is too. It allows for us that are, excuse me, in multiple departments or multiple buildings, a centralized area to find one source of information, not multiple platforms that you have to go to. I think that is an unspoken communication that is forgotten a lot in athletic administration is how do you communicate that without having to download a million different PDFs or files for transportation? I think Google Docs is a great way. Or Google spreadsheets. I think the other opportunity that you have is do you do group text with your coaches?
- [21:07]
B
Right?
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C
I label one and like, when we hire new coaches, the first thing they see. Jeremy made a softball chat for, you know, Pec HS softball. And it's like, everybody's in there and everybody has their number now. And then it allows for us, hey, Jeremy, do you need us to do this or that?
- [21:24]
B
Right?
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C
So I think that's part of it. I think the other aspect of this that I'll mention to you, Greg, is with our students. I think it's also being intentional. Put safeguards in there to cover yourself and your students. Right? So I think SportsU has been a
- [21:36]
B
big part of that.
- [21:37]
C
I think also being present, like we talked about earlier with our coaches, myself, our administration, that's been a big, big help in us getting students to buy in with a whole new administration. That's one point I'll mention. We are all new here as far as new assistant principals, principals and superintendent. So we really came in with the mindset that our communication and our visibility needed to be something that was priority one from day one.
- [22:03]
A
I love that, you know, because the communication piece, especially at the early onset, like that's, that's going to set the tone for how much people buy into what you're saying. I do like the idea of having a central document that essentially is allowing everybody access to see, you know, this is what's taking place here are the changes that have happened because then not only can they go and view that, they can also set up alerts when there's a change so they can be notified, like, hey, this is taking place now. I like that approach simply because, like, I think back to like my private school days, right? And there's. Everybody's vying for facility space and everything's getting locked up. And I mean, you're talking about PDFs. I mean, I can't tell you how many damn different calendars I had, you know, and like we, we finally navigated to a software system that was functional, I would say, you know, was not one that's a, a main player in this space by any means. And it worked for us. But even that, it was kind of like, well, did you check here? And they're like, no, I'm like, so you're back to okay, well let me get this sent off to you. So like, I like the idea of a Google Doc where there's central information to allow people to know, like what's available, what's changed, stuff like that. So appreciate the insights on that.
- [23:24]
B
I mean, I agree, right. It, it makes sense to be centralized as much as possible, have one common system when you can and over communicate. We say it every time, right? Over communication is the most important thing. I would definitely err on that side more than lack of communication, Jeremy. All right, you said something about pivoting or being nimble earlier in the call. So I just decided to go completely off script with the next question. And I know that you've been, you've had experience both independent school, private school, and now I think you said this is your first public school. So I'm just wondering one or two main differences that you've seen between, let's say the public and the independent or private school.
- [24:09]
C
Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I would say is it all isn't what it's all in what you value. I think what you're looking for in life, what you're looking for in balance. I think my biggest thing that I would say is the difference right now is obviously funding, right? Whether it's a big school, small school, that's one of the significant things is the funding that you have. And do you need a fundraiser? Do you not need a fundraiser? Do you have community involvement, things of that nature? And I'm using that from this, from my example of where I'm at now to where I was in the past. I think the other aspect of that is buying of students. I think because we have not been a program that has done successfully well on the fields in a lot of the mainstream sports. I think they see that there's a seriousness in athletics right now. I think that there's a bigger momentum of shifting in the right direction, that there's accountability. We're reinvesting in our programs. We bought some new uniforms this year. You know, I think those are the things. The ability to live stream has helped us tremendously. Right. I think that has also allowed for us to work with community engagement in regards to local restaurants that are popular. Hey, if we give you a free subscription, right. Can you live stream our home football games? Can you have a watch party, right. Where 10% of it goes back to the athletic department or the football program because you're in season for that sport.
- [25:38]
B
Right.
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C
And we'll put your will run your ad or your logo all game long. You know, excuse me. I think that's kind of the things that I would say would be the biggest difference is that that funding piece, you know, the, the buy in of students, you know, dependent upon the on field experiences or non. Non experiences that they've had.
- [25:59]
B
Perfect. I love that. I wound up at a small public school in my only athletic director job. And when we won the first state championship in a very long time, I felt like that winning started breeding winning like when you were able to celebrate and buy rings and do all that fun stuff because somebody won all of a sudden others started like, I want a ring too. Right. And other programs started really sort of feeling that those tailwinds to help them grow. So I like the idea about like seriousness of purpose and you know, work hard enough to try and get there kind of thing becomes important.
- [26:40]
C
Absolutely. I think I'll add to that my last school we were very fortunate to be very successful. We won eight state championships in two years. And being able to give back to a small school like this and where I grew up is very similar to this. Right. I think my person of who I am spoke volumes about the opportunity we have here to build something really from the ground up and take pride in what you're doing. I think that was the biggest aspect for me that I saw here, that I really wanted to be a part of this team and I think they have done a tremendous job of supporting the athletic and activities department and our programs from year one. And I'm really looking forward to year two with some of the things that we have coming up.
- [27:28]
B
Awesome.
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A
I really love, like, the different perspectives that you bring to it. Right. Because you've seen the gamut. You know, Scott and I always chat, whether it's on this podcast or even just, you know, offline our different experiences, because he was public, I was private. You know, he had stayed his entire time in public. I had done my entire AD time in the private school sector. And it's. It's interesting to see the. The differences and how many similarities there are at the same time. But I think one takeaway for me when you were talking about all of that was what do you value? You, like, personally, what. What are you striving for? Because I think there are times when people are like, whether it's the big job or the, the public school job or the private school with namesake and branding and stuff like that, they're chasing something and they may not realize, like, hey, hold on, like, there's different nuances to this. You know, what. What do you value here? Like, what are your strengths? What do you enjoy doing? And I think that that's a really good takeaway, especially with the. The different scopes that you've seen this through.
- [28:38]
B
Right.
- [28:38]
A
You've seen it through essentially every possible venue. So that's a good one from, from my perspective. So I appreciate that.
- [28:47]
C
Absolutely.
- [28:50]
A
All right, so last question for me for today. You're talking to somebody. They're transitioning into a new role. They ask you, can you just give me a simple blueprint for my first year in a new department? What would you give them? Like, what would be some of the key components that you would supply to them? Like, hey, here are the bullet points that you should adhere to to be able to be successful in your first year transitioning into a new role.
- [29:18]
C
Absolutely. I think there's a few things that I would say that are really pillars as you're transitioning into a new athletic department, a new role, first time ad, whatever it may be. Right. I think my biggest takeaway would be, is be willing to listen. Right. The thing that I've always said when I'm teaching new athletic directors at the new ID workshop that we have for Virginia, is if you're willing to listen and not cut people off and let them have their voice, it allows you to create a response that's probably going to be the most educated one based off of you processing and how you operate and what you're looking to do. Right. And I'm intentional in saying that numerous times when we're doing teaching LTI classes or things of that nature is that you don't always have to be the first to speak. You're always going to be able to get your opinion across because obviously you have a role that has some type of power, authority, whatever you want to use. But that's not what it's about in athletic administration. It's about being able to come to a rational agreement understanding of what we're trying to do, what we need to do, because we're not always going to agree. And if you're able to listen and have that rationale from step one, that allows you to get to step two to be adaptable, right? I think step two or pillar two for me is if you're adaptable and you're comfortable with that uncomfortability, you're going to be able to survive this. I'll be honest, there's a two to three year window right now for most athletic administrators before they turn over because it's either burnout, work, life, balance, or they don't get the job. Because if you're really chasing wins, like what you were alluding to earlier, Greg, you're not in this for the right business because really high school athletics is education based athletics for 98% of the country. The 2% that you see on nil and all that, that's not reality for 98% of us. Right. And I think that loses sight in people that are trying to chase wins or chase a successful program, that they don't see the bigger picture. And I think the third thing would be try and find some balance.
- [31:31]
B
Right.
- [31:31]
C
I shared that on my accounts last night and just some points that I would do for any new athletic director coming in or changing schools. Try and find some balance in between your work, life, your school, all of that. And I think the biggest thing for me from a personal standpoint, this has allowed me to be able to work, you know, 45 to 55 hours a week compared to working 70 to 80 hours a week at my last school. Right. That's a huge difference when you just turn 40, right. Knock on wood that you're, you're able to actually enjoy life and be able to do some things with your family and be able to actually have some downtime because in this job or position you're not always going to be able to do that when 12 months out of the year you have off season workouts, you have competitions, you have meetings. It is a 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 job. But you've also got to be able to balance that. I'll mention this too, and I'm very intentional with this now because I actually learned this from my mentor. I only take meetings three days out of five days during the week. I have two days that I strictly just do office work and go from there. And I'm intentional about that because I always try and use the same days for just office work because those are usually game days. Right. If I can get in everything else to do a zoom meeting or a virtual meeting where I don't have to leave the building, I'm also an asset to, to my admin team to help with whatever situations they may be able to come up with. So I think that's the biggest aspect of that, is just kind of evaluating with your admin yourself and being real.
- [33:10]
B
So definitely takes a lot of planning and time management to work that into your schedule where you can kind of have a couple days that you're just getting office work done. I'm amazed by that and I think that's fantastic. I like what you said about listening. So important. Don't always have to be the first one to speak. One of my favorite lines, I'm sure I've used it before, is, are you listening or are you waiting to speak? And there's a really big difference between people who are truly listening or they're just being quiet, but they're really just waiting to speak at the same time. That's fantastic. All right, my last question, Jeremy. Off script too. I thought about this a bunch of times when I was in ad, when I was like, should I leave? Should I find a new school? We outlined a lot about how you treat, let's say internally, coaches, community, student athletes, as somebody new. Any difference that you found with colleagues, like coming into possibly a new conference as a new ad? But you have a lot of experience, so how do you work that, like newness in with colleagues as opposed to internally?
- [34:23]
C
I think it's funny that you asked that because we just had our district meeting, our regional meeting, and then our state association meetings last month and they asked me point blank, how does it feel being on the dark side compared to where you were? And I know that they were joking, but I think the other aspect of that is that because I'm so involved both at the state, the national level, I. It wasn't much of a transition. It's more of, hey, what can I answer for you? Because I know you don't know this rule. What can I answer for you? What do you need help with? Right? And they have been amazing. I have a group of friends that we text probably 24,7 more than what we would tell our wives. But I think the biggest thing is, is that, you know, their first thing was, you know, they heard about President elect and like what benefits are we going to get from this? Jeremy? I said the benefit of friendship.
- [35:15]
B
Right.
- [35:16]
C
I think, and I joke with that because I think if you are real with people and they see who you are, they'll understand why you're doing the things that you're doing are for the right reasons because it's in education based athletics and you want to be at that school and you fit that model or whatever the case may be. I apologize. We have automatic lights so after 30 minutes they go off. So I think that's really. It is that I've. It has been a little bit of a transition just from a rules and regulations and policy standpoint, but not where they don't. Hey, Jeremy's calling for something. It must be important. It's not him just talking, right?
- [35:57]
B
Not just the new guy, pretty much, right.
- [36:00]
C
They, it is more so. Hey Jeremy, when's your next round of golf? I said, guys, let's not talk about that right now.
- [36:09]
B
Fantastic.
- [36:10]
A
I love it. I love all of it. I think this has been extremely insightful and cannot thank you enough for taking the time to join us today. Jeremy, the perspective that you've provided us and the thoughts and the insights, extremely valuable. I really like, as Scott had mentioned earlier, like, are you, are you listening? Are you waiting to speak? You know, when you had touched on that, I think that's really true because there's so many times when people are just waiting their turn to talk, right. And it's like, are you digesting and understanding what they're saying? And then the, the analogies that you had utilized, you know, or the examples with, oh, you know, your, your colleagues, like, oh, you've gone to the dark side now. Like I think back to my days when I was in the Trinity League and somebody had gone to a public school or something like that. There's, I won't say it on there, like, similar language of like, oh, you went, you went blank. You know. But it's very interesting to see the different perspectives of it. So truly appreciate you taking the time to join us today.
- [37:10]
C
Absolutely. I, I love having, I love being on here and this has been great.
- [37:15]
B
Appreciate it man. You're doing a great job. Keep up the good work.
- [37:19]
C
Thank you.
- [37:21]
A
And again folks, if you liked what you heard today, please make sure you follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcast from to so you to make sure you don't miss any new episodes. And in closing, from A.D. 360, I'm Greg Vandermayd.
- [37:37]
B
Scott Rosenberg.
- [37:39]
A
Until next time, folks.