← Youth Inc. with Greg Olsen
Youth Inc. with Greg Olsen
EXCLUSIVE: Why Jason Williams LEFT the Women's College World Series Before the Final
00:17:20
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- [00:00]
A
I almost feel, though, if they don't win tonight, I think you got to go back.
- [00:04]
B
You think? You think I'm the reason they lost?
- [00:06]
A
I think you're the.
- [00:07]
B
That's fair.
- [00:08]
A
What would be the other reason?
- [00:10]
B
My skin is tougher than anybody, you know, so I can take all that. I told you, I got my book fly. I mean, my flight booked.
- [00:15]
A
Youth sports in America are at a crossroads, and I'm here to help lead the conversation. Forward. I'm Greg Olson. Each week, we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches, and more to talk about what's working, what's broken, and what's next. Welcome to you think. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another really special episode here on you think. Man, if you grew up like me, mid-80s, baby. In the 90s, you were a teenager. Growing up, every kid on the playground, every kid at school wanted to be Jason Williams. The passing, the no looks, the fun dude, one of the most electric NBA players of all time, cultural icon. Dudes loved him. But more importantly, the last couple weeks, we have watched you be a dad. We have watched you be a girl dad. Living and dying. Girls, softball, women's softball is incredible drama. But without further ado, NBA champion White Chocolate himself, Jason Williams. Dude, thanks so much for joining us on you think, man.
- [01:13]
B
You kidding me? Thanks for having me, bro. I appreciate you having me.
- [01:16]
A
All right, so if anybody's like us, you've been there, living and dying. We've been home. No skin in the game, but you've been at little at the women's college World Series. Your daughter Mia playing with Texas Tech. Lot going on, lot of storylines, the Florida series and beyond. Like, I've watched you be a dad. And, dude, I love it. The passion, the energy. Give us a sense, like, where are you at in all of this? How exciting have these last couple weeks been and just bring us up to speed a little bit.
- [01:46]
B
Well, first of all, winning takes care of everything, as you know. So I'm glad they're still winning. And obviously it's good for my daughter to have some individual success, but I'm all about the team, bro. You know, they got three. They got two more games to win out of three. They got to pull it together and get this first one tonight. I'm actually headed back to Orlando right now. I'm not in Oklahoma City no more, bro. I feel like I was feeling too much heat out there, to be honest with you, bro. It was almost like everybody. It was all about me. Greg and I decided as a dad, just to step back, come on back home and let them girls shine, bro. I've had my shine. Mine's over. It's time for those girls to shine. So I'm just going to step back and watch it on TV this weekend, bro. Just like you guys.
- [02:29]
A
Is that a conversation you have with your daughter Mia? Is that a. Is that something you have with friends and family? Like, who. Are you making that decision yourself? Is someone encouraging you? Like, give us a sense of where that comes from, man.
- [02:42]
B
I just. I just feel like all the social media, this seems like every. Everywhere I go in Oklahoma City is it's about Jay Wills this, Jay Will that, Jay Will that. You know, that's just my barstool gig. That's all I was doing that for was barstool. We was getting some. Some good content with me and Tate, and we got great content. But. But as far as the softball goes, no one. No one really said that I need to go home because of the shine and stuff like that. I've chose to do that on my own. And who knows? I may be in Oklahoma City tomorrow. Greg, you never know with me, bro. Depends on which way. Depends on which way the wind's blowing, so we'll see.
- [03:14]
A
How did Mia take it when you told her?
- [03:15]
B
You know what? I'm not even so sure my daughter knows I'm going home yet, bro. So. So I told her I may be going home.
- [03:21]
A
So give us a sense. When. Even when you're there, are the girls and the teams and the coaches, are they really kept separate? Like, are they really kept in their own little bubble, even though so many friends and family are out there?
- [03:33]
B
It's not. It's nothing like you and I are used to, bro. But. But Texas Tech's coach, coach Jerry Glasgow, is one of the best coaches my daughter's ever played for, probably the best coach he's ever played for, and one of the best coaches that I've ever met. He's all about the team. He's all about family. So, no, he doesn't keep him secluded. You know, he lets us. Lets the family come and things like that. But I always stay at a different hotel. I'm not the dad that. That. That after games and stuff. Talk to me about softball. If she wants to talk about softball to me, she'll ask me about it. If not, we're not talking about softball at all, bro.
- [04:01]
A
Interesting. So before we talk about what you're going to be like, sitting at home watching, what are you feeling in the stands? Right? I mean, we listen we all, I watched our whole house. We haven't missed one game. And I have a daughter. I wish she played softball. She hasn't. But man, watching that game, I can only imagine you're watching your daughter not only have incredible success since she was young, right, her track record at to Florida, her time there and now obviously at Texas Tech, she hits a walk off home run to win a women's college World Series game. And we, you know, we saw the celebration. Give us a sense what's going on inside of you watching your daughter and her teammates compete at that level.
- [04:40]
B
Honestly, Greg, I, I couldn't do what I wanted to do. If it was a bunch of boys and men around there, it would have been way more crazier. But, but sitting in the G, sitting in the stands, bro, it's just like everybody's chirping at me. Everybody knows who Jay Will is, bro. It's like everybody from the other team's chirping at me and I just got to sit there, bro. You listen, oh, you don't know me from a can of paint, Greg. But, but, but I'm sure you could ask some of my old teammates and some of the people that, that know me know that I'm not going to sit there and let people chirp at me. That's just, that's just me. And I'm not saying that that's right for me to chirp back, but that's just how I was brought up. That's how I'm going to go to the grave. I'm going to chirp back. But, but again, I, I, I, I thought, I thought it's best for me to leave and let them do their thing today. And like I said, I might be back on a plane tomorrow, bro.
- [05:21]
A
I totally get it right when, when you walk in. And there's no question sometimes here, especially here in Charlotte where we live, people are very aware of who my kids are. And we people for the 99% are cool and nice, but every once in a while you get that one coach, you get that one parent and they're glad when your kid strikes out. They're glad when your kid throws an interception. And that's, that's real. Give me a sense growing up with Mia being so good, did. Do you think she felt people looked at her differently? And whether sometimes that was for the benefit or also sometimes people wanted to see her because it was almost like we're not going to let her have all the shine. We know her dad is like, do you think she sensed it being any different growing up.
- [06:02]
B
I don't think she did Greg, but more so my son and that, that aspect of it. But, but, but he's grown now. He's, he, he's, he's going to be a fireman. He's a fireman and like that. So, so we're good there. But as, as for me, I just, I don't think she ever felt it because I think she knew she was going to be good. But just, just the work she put in, people don't realize all the work and the weightlifting and the stretching and the, she's put that in at, since a young age and so now it's just time for her to shine. It's just all the hard work she's put in, bro. And she needs to get it. Texas Tech, Red Raiders need to get all the shine to. Jay Wills. Done had his time, bro.
- [06:39]
A
Hey you, you've been in, you know, NBA playoffs, finals, the biggest environments in the world of sports. I've never been there in person. That atmosphere in Oklahoma City, it comes across on TV electric like, what is it like in the stadium?
- [06:54]
B
Well, first off, I gotta give, I gotta give shout out to the corn dogs at the park, bro. This is the best corn dog you'll ever eat.
- [06:59]
A
I love corn dogs. I love corn dogs.
- [07:02]
B
They're the best, bro. But, but the, the atmosphere in that park, bro, is amazing. All those teams had a chance to win it, I think, I think Mississippi State was probably the lowest rated team when it got down to it, but Alabama was a brawl with us, man. They're, they're so good. Tennessee, so good. Texas is going to be hard to beat. I mean all these girls can play ball, bro. It's just, it's, it's, it's at a different level. Just, just imagine you in the playoffs. That's the same atmosphere, man.
- [07:25]
A
What was Mia like at 10? So she's playing, I'm assuming at 10 she's playing softball. She's learning fast pitch. She's learning like, was she always a star? Was she always a stud? Was she, was she late to the game, an early adopter? Like give us a sense of who she was at 10.
- [07:41]
B
Tell you what, 10 years old, she was out in right field, Greg. And that now there's nothing wrong with right field players because everybody needs a right fielder. And guess what, right fielders get a lot of money too. So that's okay being in right field. But no, I think at little, little travel ball, when they're 10, they start the weakest Player usually goes to right field and she was fighting to get in the lineup, but like I said before, bro, she didn't miss weightlifting. She didn't miss a hitting practice. She didn't miss a defensive practice, she didn't miss yoga. She didn't miss no stretching. Anything, Anything she has to do to make her, make her get in that starting lineup and get up to the 1, 2, 3 spot in the, in the, in the, in the hitting role. That's what she did, bro. So she's earned everything, man.
- [08:16]
A
Can you teach that will, like, can you teach that competitive juice, or do you, in your opinion, do you just have it or you don't?
- [08:22]
B
My opinion, I think you have it or you don't, bro. I try to tell kids, when I get a chance to talk to kids nowadays, to, you gotta love to practice, you gotta love the work. Because if you do reach the pinnacle, looking back at all that work and all that, that stuff that you went through, that's way more, way more gratifying than winning the championship in the end, bro. As you know, bro, it's like the work and the teammates and everything you got together is worth more than winning at the end.
- [08:45]
A
I love it. All right, now I'm going to ask you to talk to a lot of our followers, our, our parents. A lot of our listeners are parents. They got kids at various stages of their youth sports experience. They're just starting out first time, or they're like you, and they have sons or daughters playing at the highest level, competitive, you know, college or professional and beyond. Give us an idea about how you view relationships between parents and, and the coach. Right? So assuming you're not the coach. Right, so now you're, you're, you're dealing with Coach Glasgow and you're dealing with, you know, her high school coach or your son's high school coach. What was your approach towards building a relationship but also being respectful of letting the coach coach your child? But also, at the end of the day, you are the dad. You do have some thoughts. You have a lot of experience of playing at a high level when it's time to get involved as dad, you will, but respectfully.
- [09:36]
B
Exactly, bro. I struggled with that at the beginning because I was so protective of my daughter. But once she got to the college and started getting recruited and stuff like that, I'm telling all these coaches, like, look, coach, I ain't, I got no skin in the game, bro. I just, I just want you to treat my daughter right and treat her fair and culture. I don't I don't want any other coach her. If you got to yell at her, yell as part of coaching, man. I think so. My, my one thing the parents would be at like 10, 11 year old travel ball, stuff like that. I would tell the dad, go ahead and get you a pickup truck, park that sucker in the outfield, put the tailgate down and watch it from out there and let, let your daughter do her thing, bro.
- [10:11]
A
I love that. And I could probably learn a thing or two about that. That's why I always end up coaching all the kids teams. But that's a separate conversation. When you say you struggled with it early, are you talking high school? Are you talking like earlier than high school? Like when you were until you wrapped your head around being comfortable letting someone else coach your, in this case your daughter. How old was she when you had that breakthrough?
- [10:32]
B
I'm gonna say between 10 and 13. Somewhere around in there. Once I, once I learned that she knew what time it was and she knew what it took to get in that starting lineup, I let it be, bro. I could just see the work ethic in her and her, her drive. She was going to get wherever she wanted to go on, on her own without me yelling or cursing any coach out, bro.
- [10:49]
A
In your experience now going through this with me? Of course, big story. She obviously she's a top recruit. So she goes to Florida now obviously she, she transfers to Texas Tech. Give us a sense of the, you know, the landscape of college recruiting. Nil, obviously Texas Tech, all sports. But you know, whether it's softball, football, they're making a big run through the nil. Getting great athletes, transfer portal boots on the ground. Like what is that experience like for these college athletes? How does that work? How does your daughter go from being a star starter, everyday player at Florida to now in the College World Series at Texas Tech?
- [11:27]
B
I'll tell you what, just this, her work ethic got her, got her all that. But now with, with the nil and like that her mom took care of that nil. Deal is if it would have been me, I would have been asking for everything. I'd have been pushing every buttons I give. I need a couple hours on the jet to get me and her mom to the games in Lubbock. Things I need all that. But now that, that, that, that handled itself, man. And Texas Tech's been great. You know, like I said, I think probably these girls are probably underpaid. As good as I think they are. I think, I think all college, all college girls sports should be getting money and it's just not like that, bro. From my experience, where I've been, they didn't have it, and where me is now, you know, obviously it's a better situation all around, not just the nil. I'm thinking Mia would have went to Lubbock without the nil, so. So take that away. That's just a bonus. You know what I'm saying? So Mia loves the game. She just wants to be a good teammate. She wants to get a dub. And that's all it's about, man.
- [12:19]
A
Like Mia at Texas Tech. From facilities to support to, like, at what level? Compare it to what you know about, you know, men's basketball or football, like at Texas Tech, specifically. How. How good. How good is the program? How good do these girls have it? Like, how well taken care of are they? Or should it be better?
- [12:38]
B
I mean, I'm always going to say it should be better for the athletes because I'm always on the athlete side. But. But I think. I think. I think nowadays, these, these, These kids, these. I don't call them kids, but these boys and girls that, that, that are in college, they got it made, bro. They got it made it. There's no way if, if you want to fail. I think it'll be hard to fail as an athlete today. It's all right in front of you. So if you just put your mind to it and do what's right, it's right there. They got. They got it made.
- [13:01]
A
When you jumped on, you said, hey, man, I don't know, Greg. I could be back in Oklahoma City tomorrow. Hypothetically, what would that have to look like? What would transpire between tonight's game, watching it from home in Orlando to potentially jumping right back on a flight and getting back out there in person? Is there a conversation? Is it you just taking a deep breath and enjoying tonight from afar? Like, what does that look like?
- [13:22]
B
It's whichever way the wind blows. I'm telling you right now, I've already. I've got a flight booked. I've got a flight booked. Depends on what they do tonight, how they play and things like that. So we'll see. We will see.
- [13:33]
A
Hey, listen, I'm just going to throw it out there and I. I wish them nothing but success. It's fun watching them play, the way they've built that program. Your daughter's a stud. I almost feel, though, if they don't win tonight, I think you got to go back.
- [13:47]
B
You think. You think I'm the reason they lost?
- [13:48]
A
I think you're the fair what would be the other reason?
- [13:53]
B
My skin is tougher than anybody, you know, so I can take all that. Listen, I told you I got my book fly. I mean my flight booked.
- [13:59]
A
My two boys play travel, baseball. And I will say it's a sport that at the beginning I didn't really understand. So you know softball, similar idea. Like, what do you mean I gotta wait for my turn to get in the lineup. The harder I try the heart, the worse I play. Like, you know the days where you didn't have your shot and you just weren't feeling it, you could go bust your ass on defense, you could go get a steal, a rebound, a put back, you could assist, create. And that day you just didn't have your shot. Okay, fine. In softball and baseball, like if you're not swinging it at the plate, I mean maybe the ball gets hit to you, you make a great defensive play, but that's obviously by chance. You can't control. It's a very interesting game, I believe there's a lot of vibes, there's a lot of energy, there's a lot of good spirit. So. So I'm just saying, dude, we've watched the magic that, that those girls have had for weeks now. I hope they win, but if they don't, I think you got to get back on that plane or you're not going to live, let yourself down, dude.
- [14:57]
B
Well, since you just told me that, you can say less if they lose. I'm going back. Gosh darn it.
- [15:02]
A
Done. And it all started right here on you think last thing I have. I know you got a lot going on pump for tonight's game. Talk to our families one more time. Take them back to. You're watching 10 year old Mia and maybe at the time you were really into it and didn't love her being cool. All the maybe the insecurities we all have as dads, especially with our daughters. But now you look back, knowing what you know now. Talk to Jason Williams, the dad, talk to all the other dads of we'll call it 15 years ago. What would you say to them now?
- [15:34]
B
Man, I would tell them, look, man, you just, you live and you learn. I think, I think I do. Do you? That's what I would tell them. If they want to sit up there in the front row and maybe yell at the umpire or do that for the first half inning or game or something like that. Until you learn that that's not the way you should do it. You got to do that. I think, I think just being you Being yourself and figuring it out yourself, whether that's the way to do it or whether it isn't, that's on you. So at the end of the day, at the end of the day, the mom is the boss, bro. Once us dads and husbands can. Can realize that, then everything will be fine.
- [16:11]
A
Yeah, well, that. That might be the best piece of advice we've ever gotten here on, you think. And it, it's. That simplifies things clear as day. Mom's the boss. And us dads end up sometimes doing more harm than we think we are.
- [16:23]
B
That's right. We. We just, we just become the Uber driver when it's baseball and softball season.
- [16:29]
A
Jay Wilt, man, I can't thank you enough. You've had a lot going on. Love the fact that you're out there watching and cheering your daughter. I hope Mia and all her teammates get off to a great start tonight, man. Consider what I just said, just for what it's worth.
- [16:42]
B
No, it's a done deal. Done deal.
- [16:45]
A
But, man, I can't thank you enough, man. Your perspective as a dad, your perspective of just living in this unbelievable moment right now alongside your daughter, I have nothing but love for. I have two sons and a daughter. I get it. I wear my heart on the sleeve. No one ever wonders where I stand either. So I respect it and get it. But, man, I really appreciate you taking a couple of minutes and joining us and sharing a little bit of your story.
- [17:07]
B
I appreciate you guys having me, bro. I'll be watching the game tonight. I hope you guys are too. And wreck them.