← Youth Inc. with Greg Olsen
Youth Inc. with Greg Olsen
Ryan Day on Building Culture, Ohio State Football & Choosing the Right Path
00:42:10
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- [00:00]
A
Make sure you subscribe to both our YouTube channel and our RSS feed for all future conversations here at you think. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to a really special episode of you think, not only because we have Ryan Day, national championship head coach, Ohio State Buckeyes, but also a guy who's become a friend of mine, someone that I've gotten to know personally, spent time with him up at camp. So, Coach Day, the fact just taking time to talk to us, our listeners, our followers here at you think can't thank you anymore, man, for joining us. Appreciate you, Coach.
- [00:34]
B
No, no, great to be on here and yeah, no, it's been great, you know, to become friends and, and, you know, I really had a great time when you came up and we spent time and for those who know, know how much, you know, Greg loves football, the X's and the O's, and we have a really good time and hope to get you back soon.
- [00:50]
A
No, I'm going to. I'm going to try to make it an annual every spring, try to get up there. I just have so much respect for your program and just being around, watching you coach, watching you lead, and we're going to dive into a lot here on this conversation. So, coach, I want to start at the top. You know, I think we hear coaches, especially at the level you guys are at, talk about how important culture is and identity. And I think those words get thrown around loosely at times. Give me an idea. Give our listeners an idea. When you're building out the vision for Ohio State football, you guys are at the top of the mountain. What does that mean? Like, how would you summarize what it means to play football to be a member of at Ohio State?
- [01:30]
B
Yeah, for us at Ohio State, you know, I think about when I was at the University of New Hampshire, playing when I was at Boston College, I was at Florida, I was at Temple, I was with the Eagles, I was with the 49ers. And each place kind of has its own identity. Each place has, you know, its goals. And for Ohio State, it was easy to recognize early on that, like, we want guys who want to be the best in the world at what they do. And it's not for everybody. Like, I think one of the most important things is having an agreement on the front end of what the expectations are. I see this a lot. My son is in high school and he's a junior. And I just find even in high school, when you sit down with parents or you sit down with a player and, and you say when you're coming into our culture. Here are the expectations. It sets the bar of what the culture is, what we expect out of you. And then when there's a deviation from that, it's easy to reconnect everybody and say, we talked about this on the front end and this is what's happening, and here's where we need to go, and here are the corrections that we need to make, because we all came to agreement on what this was supposed to look like. And I think that's important as a leader, to individually meet and set the expectation of what you want that to be. I mean, culture is really just the behavior that's in your building. And I think as the leader, it's constantly talking about that, identifying that, making sure that your leaders are the hardest workers and that you're figuring out how to. So the thing that we use a lot of is 10, 80, 10, and it's a bell curve, you know, the 10 over here of the elite, then there's a 10 at the bottom who are kind of the defiant, disinterested, and then there's the 80%. And what happens a lot of times is we spend time on the bottom 10%. What we really need to do is take this middle 80 and push them over to the Elite and move the mountain. And that's the. That's on the onus of the coaches and that 10%, who are the elite to push that over there. I felt like last year, we push that mountain strong over here, and because of that, we want a championship. And so I think that's important. I think also talking about what leadership is and building accountability is critical with your. With your culture, because when the players feel like they have say, I think it makes a big difference. So we select a leadership committee right after the season. We select. We then reselect one right after the spring. Spring practice into the summer. And then we're going to select captains here right before the season. And during that process, like, we'll talk about what the expectations are for the summer. We'll talk about what the expectations are for preseason camp. And I have the leadership committee in there, and I want their feedback. Like, for instance, Mick Moratti, who, you know, runs our strength and conditioning program, and I. We run the meetings. And when we first started this year, the first goal was to reinforce the culture. And the feedback we got from our players was, how can we reinforce a culture that some guys don't even know? We have to rebuild the culture. We have to knock it down and rebuild it. And that was their Decision. I thought that was great. When somebody was late for a workout, they're the ones who decided what the penalty was. So when that happens, they're not moaning and groaning. They're like, hey, we agreed to this, and this is what we're doing. I think all those things help in culture. It's hard to just put in one conversation, but. But those are the things that we try to focus on at Ohio State to make sure the culture is strong. And that can ultimately work through tough times, because that's when you're really tested, is when you go through a loss. It's easy when things are going well, the issues are always there. But when you go through a difficult time, like we did last year, the resilience of the team has to come together, and that's when you're tested the most.
- [05:22]
A
I want to stay there because I wanted to talk to you about that. I had someone once define me culture, and they said, culture is who you are when things are at their worst. Right. To your point, it's easy to have great culture. It's easy for everyone to be on time. You know, the Sunday morning workout after a SAT after a big win on Saturday night at home, and everyone's feeling good. But your real culture is, okay, who are.
- [05:42]
B
Who.
- [05:42]
A
Where. Where are the warts when things are not good? Where. When everyone's backs against the wall and everyone on the outside is looking at you and everyone's pointing fingers. So obviously you guys went through that last year right around the holidays, your big rivalry game doesn't go as planned. There's a lot of outside noise. What would you say about your culture from that week at the bot end of November to the national championship two months later? Like, what about your culture? What about the fabric of who you guys were in that locker room and as a coaching staff, do you think you guys hung on to that, carried you the furthest?
- [06:20]
B
I think a lot of people ask that question. They're like, so, you know, was it. We had like a big meeting that people talk about after the game, and I think people think that that's what brought everybody together. It doesn't work that way. As, you know, like your foundation for your house, all of a sudden, you're not going to put that together right before a storm or right after a storm like that that's built years in advance. It's all built on trust. And when there's trust, you can work through those difficult times. And the way that we build trust one is through character, like who you are as a person who you are as a man. And you can show that the most in defining moments. And when you go through a loss, certainly at Ohio State, and when you go through adversity, that's when your character shows the most. When you say you're going to do something, do you actually do it? When temptation's at its highest, when you're really getting your name thrown around or whatever those things are, because it's all relative. I see it happen with my son in high school. I saw it when in middle school, parents are pointing fingers and all these different things. That's an opportunity to show your character in a big way. And everybody's watching. In those tough times, the players and I mentioned it to them. I said, guys, when we go through tough times, that's when people reveal their character the most. So that's what we have to be at our strongest. That's the first area that we have to build trust. The second one is through connection. Like, these guys have to know that you care about them. And I think as coaches, we just assume sometimes that someone's going to think that we care about them or listen to us because we're the coach. Doesn't work that way. It really never has. I mean, when you and I were growing up, we respected the coach because that's the way it was. But now more than ever, you know, you've got to make sure you make connection with these guys. And how do you do that? You spend time with them, you talk to them, you know, you earn their respect. The third thing is your competency. Like, you have to know what you're doing when you stand up. If I'm standing up in front of you and talking about a route for a tight end, like, I better know what the heck I'm talking about because you're going to look at me sideways. But if I know what I'm talking about, then you're going to trust me because you know that I can get you better as a player. And when I stand up in front of the team, they have to know that what I'm talking about is going to get them to where they need to be. And they need to believe that if they follow the plan and this path, it's going to lead to a championship. I think that's probably the biggest thing coming off of last year, is now there's credibility, because we have gone through that and the guys have seen that. So they know there's competence, that if they follow the plan, that this is the result that could happen. And the last One is consistently. You have to consistently do this day out, day in and day out. And if you build enough trust in your program, when you go through those difficult moments, you can bring everyone together, put a plan together, identify what the problems are, get them fixed, and then move forward. And it can galvanize you if you handle it the right way.
- [09:00]
A
You couldn't summarize it any better than that. The best locker rooms I were in had those qualities. The worst locker rooms I was ever in where we couldn't get out of our own way had maybe one or two of the qualities, but for sure didn't have all four. So I think every young coach out there that listens to us, that follows us, like, what a blueprint for building championship culture. Because championship culture doesn't mean you win the championship every year. It doesn't mean you win every game. It means you are built for both the good times, which hopefully there's a lot, but more importantly, that you're built for the bad times. Because however good you are, no matter how many good recruiters, recruits you bring in, shit's hard. Like, this is. This is big boy stuff. So you couldn't say it any better. I want to. I want to talk to our coaches here for a second coach, and I want to move on to some more about identifying talent and some of the other factors. So many young coaches that I see focus so much about how much do I know about the sport, right? I'm a young high school football coach. Everything's X's and O's. I'm a young basketball coach, a baseball coach. I want you to talk about the role of a coach, but not because you draw the best offensive plays or you've got the best, no huddle, offense. Or tell me in your mind, like, the role of the best coaches you've been around, whether that's guys on your staff or guys you coached under or, like, just give an idea of, like, in your mind. Championship coaching is what?
- [10:25]
B
That's a great question. I wish I could. I wish my staff could hear this right now, because you're really boiling this down to what really matters the most at any level. I think the first thing is you teach. You know, sometimes I want to even say to our coaches, slow down. Just talk to this young man, coach him, Ask him what. What is he seeing? What is he thinking? What is going through his mind? What is he looking at? What is he seeing? You know, we always, just like you said, want to go on to the next play or, you know, just so know Want to coach them hard. And we do. We all have to coach hard. But like sometimes we just need to like talk to them and teach them. Now we're not going to coach effort, we're not going to coach focus like that, that, that's something that is a whole another conversation. But if you have guys who are willing to give great effort, willing to focus, you have to teach them and then you have to drill those things that you're doing and then you have to build up this foundation. You know, we have this book, I got it right here that we're, we're reading as a team. It's called Chop Wood, Carry Water. And it's a great book. And each, each chapter is only like about a 45 second read. It's really quick. And so what we did as a team this summer is every day we had a player get up and summarize what the chapter meant. So we had it on the, on the indoor, on the indoor. We had it on the monitors in the building and everybody had to kind of read that. And then we picked them out so somebody would have to read and explain what that was. And to me, like, it's, it's the, it's, it's, that is a great book because it's all about the process over the results. Like, you're constantly working on the process. And you know, like for instance, one of the chapters talks about how every inch matters, every decision that you make matters. If you eat McDonald's today, you're not going to get fat and overweight and sick. But if you eat it every single day, eventually that's going to happen. Like who you hang out with, you know, what you listen to, what time you wake up in the morning, what you eat, what you focus on. All those things add up in the end. And when you're focusing on that process, when you fail, it's a good thing. Like, how do you grow? You grow by failing. You grow by first got on a bike. What happened? You fell off. But how quickly can you learn from those failures along the way? But when I watch youth sports today, I got to tell you, like I watch parents who are screaming and yelling and care if a team wins a fifth grade basketball game like that. That's not it. It's about the process. Are we actually getting better at the skills that we need to move on and grow from? And that doesn't really even change when we get to college. It's the same things. Like we have to focus on that. And to your point, you know, we've had games in the past. You know, the 22 game against Georgia. We missed a field goal in the semifinals, and if not, we go on against TCU and probably win the national championship. Same thing in 19. Like, we've been a play or two away from winning a championship. But the focus has to be on the process, not the result, because there's a lot of things that can happen in a game. No doubt. So I covered a lot of ground right there.
- [13:26]
A
I love it.
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B
Important points.
- [13:28]
A
No, I love it. It's like the old adage, right? How you do some things is how you do everything. We try to tell our kids that we coach. I just had a seventh and eighth grade for our middle school football team. We just had our summer workout this morning, 8am we're out there and we preach it like our brain doesn't know whether this is a random Wednesday in July or if this is the fourth quarter end against our bitter rival for the last game of the season. We. We can't decide when it's time to turn it on, when it's time, when does it matter? It doesn't matter. Our brains don't know the difference. And the idea of building those processes and those routines. You're so spot on. I want to shift.
- [14:03]
B
I don't want to cut you off for one second because I think this is important. I. I think. And having three young kids who are in sports and seeing them and then seeing their peers is like, not everybody has the same burn as the other. And when you start to move towards the higher levels of competition, sometimes you need to identify who has that burn. Like you had that burn and attaching yourself to that burn to understand what puts two feet on the ground every day for you to want to be great. Great. Because not everybody's wired that way. Now. A part of that is as a coach, like, if you have guys on a team who aren't that wired that way, how do you motivate them to want to become the best versions of themselves? And so that. There's two conversations there. One, you want to have those people who are just wired that way. Then the other part is, like, how do you motivate those that are around who maybe aren't that wired that way to be the best versions of themselves through positivity and encouragement. Will Howard was the most positive leader I've ever been around. I learned a lot from him because sometimes I can be negative. He would always make people think they could do more than they could. He was tremendous that way. And I learned a lot from him. That was his leadership style. But the people that you're around who want to be great and I see young kids, like I say it to my, my daughters all the time, like if you don't want this, don't do it. Like if you don't want to, then go find a sport, find an instrument to play. Go become the best musician or you know, do something else, be an artist. Like find what you love and your passion and then grab onto it. I think sometimes parents want it more than kids. Like they have to find their love and their passion and then they'll own it and then they're the ones that'll wake up earlier than you.
- [15:45]
A
This episode of you think is brought to you by RCX Sports. RCX was founded to break down barriers to access and expand participation in youth sports so every kid has an opportunity to play. To learn more, we spoke with RCX's CEO and founder, Azel Reese. What was the inspiration? Like where did RCX come from? What was the problem in the youth sports world that you guys are trying to address and what has been that, that impact that you guys are making?
- [16:11]
C
Yeah, yeah. So, so RCX, you know, we launched, if you will, in, in 2018. When we launched we were already doing some things with the NBA and NFL. I was doing camps at a Super bowl actually for working with the NFL. But I'm a big fan and you appreciate this. If you get a play in the playbook and you can run this play and it continues to work, you don't change it. So as far as what it came to, league play, creating events, it's a watch, rinse and repeat model for us. And so when we think NBA and wnba, so that was a two for there. It's league play. It's, it's the same model, it's the same concept. NHL, street hockey, you know we got with NHL and initially we saying hey ice and let's do three on three. We kind of got into think tank together and then you know, we came up with ball hockey, street hockey. And so it's given opportunities, you know, across the board. Mlb, we work with pitch, hit and run, a long standing program. And so you know, we've been blessed to oversee that as well. Major League Soccer and working with them and now in this pilot phase with USTA of getting more kids involved with tennis and so we're doing some unique things there. We're putting kids in jerseys, we're putting multiple kids on the court because my kids play tennis and it is a very expensive Sport And a lot of times, you know, that's the first barrier that is there for kids. So we've built an affordable program and also giving kids jerseys and so forth so they feel like they're in a team environment and just getting back to what all these sports are, which is fun and every kid should be exposed to it. And also the ability to have multi sports. So the thing that I like most about it is, you know, when we have this opportunity to work across all these different pro leagues and now governing bodies as well, when we all get in a room together and everybody's saying the same thing, everybody believes in multi sport. Everybody believes every kid should have a great experience and opportunity at the rec level and not be priced out. You know, it shouldn't, it shouldn't come at a premium price point for kids that have a phenomenal experience in youth sports, you know, if they want more and other things. And I know it's a lot of things out there, but every, every kid in every community deserves that opportunity. And so, you know, it's things that we were accustomed to when, when we grew up. Right. And how do we, how do we get back to the basics of giving kids those opportunities? What really took things off and, and went to another level for us and which I'm excited and honored that we've had the opportunity, opportunity to do it. Overseeing NFL Flag football. We're well over 800,000 kids participating in NFL Flag and it has truly become something greater than I anticipated. But you know, good to, to get more kids involved in the game at all ages and continue to evolve NFL Flag and what it is today.
- [18:55]
A
To learn more and find a league near you, visit rcxsports.com so I want to transition into another one of your roles. Another reason, obviously you guys are so good and at the top of the mountain. Your ability to identify talent. Right? What, what does that mean? Everyone can see Jeremiah Smith and look at him and go, oh my God, he's incredible. But I want you to just take me a little bit deeper, right? So you guys have your pick of every five star player in America. But you're not, you can't get them all. You probably don't want them all. But you guys are one of a handful of schools that really can walk into any high school, any showcase, any camp, any, and say we want you, you, you and you get your, you get your fair share. Tell me about the identification process qualities. We all know we want kids who run 44 and they're 6 4. We get the physical stuff who do you recruit? The things that we can't measure? Like, what are those qualities that go into everything you're talking about? Championship culture, DNA, leadership, character. Who is Ohio State? Who is Ryan Day? Every day waking up saying, we gotta find more guys. Like, what?
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B
That's a great conversation. So the first thing is we're looking for is talent. And what is talent? Talent to me is God given. So Jeremiah is a great example. Jeremiah is 6:3 and he's 225 pounds and he can run. And I say this all the time, like, you've. You've won the genetic lottery. Did you earn that? No. Like, you know, for you. Like, how tall are you, Greg?
- [20:25]
A
Six, five and a half.
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B
Like, I say that to recruits. Did you, did you order six? Five and a half? No. No. God gave you that? Like, my son's not six, five and a half. Right. Like certain things. So God's given everybody a certain amount of talent. And we look for guys who are talented. There's no question about that. But then there's the other part of it, and the other part is what we control, and that's our discipline and our skill. And discipline, to me is everything that God didn't give you.
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A
Your work ethic.
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B
Like, nobody. I say this to my son all the time. Is anybody stopping you from being the hardest working guy in the entire country? No. You. You decide that. You read like Goggins book and these guys, like, there's nothing you can't do when it comes to work ethic. Your focus, the belief in yourself, your resilience, your preparation, what you put in your body. Like, all these things to me are very, very important. So we look for guys who are disciplined, then we look for guys who are skilled, the skills to do your. To play your position. Like, if you're playing tight end, like, there's certain skills. You don't have to know how to kick a ball, you don't have to know how to throw a ball, you don't have to learn how to pass rush, but you know how to run a route. You got to know how to dig out a seven technique. You got to do these different things. And so those skills allow. Allowed you to play in the NFL for a long, long time, even though some other guys who are more talented than you were. That's how it works. Absolutely. So we, we're looking for the guys who are talented but also have discipline and skills. That's Jeremiah, that's Kobe Bryant, that's LeBron James. Now, when you look at a guy who's uber talented. A lot of times they're not disciplined and they're not skilled because it's easy for them to get away with their talent. Then there's guys who maybe aren't as talented, who are very disciplined and very skilled because they have to be to survive, you know. You know who those guys are. Absolutely. So based on our culture, we're going to take some guys who are talented. Now. We feel like we can create their discipline and their skill in their life, but we're not going to have too many of them because they'll kill your culture. We're going to take some guys who are super disciplined and super skilled, maybe aren't as talented because they're good for the culture and they're going to give great effort and they're going to, they're going to maximize what they have. And then we're ultimately looking for the guys who are very, very talented, disciplined and skilled because those become the first routers and the great players.
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A
Is there, if I know it's a hard question to maybe wrap your head around, is there like a proportion of those three categories that you found is the right balance? I mean, you mentioned before, like 10, 80, 10, like, I don't know, maybe that's a good starting point. Have you found like the right balance or maybe does every team take on a different blend?
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B
Well, I think before, you know, this, this, this new age of nil.
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A
We.
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B
Are our percentage at Ohio State of, you know, talented, disciplined and skilled. I mean, you could recruit, you know, four or five stars in the same class in the same room, and there was no cap to it. Now it's a little bit different with the way things are. So we kind of look at it like we're probably going to have hope, hope to have one or maybe two in each class at each position. But then we're going to supplement that either through the transfer portal or with, you know, some high school guys who are in that other category, which are usually developmental. That's the way we look at it.
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A
Again, and the programs like yours that can attract the kid like Jeremiah who's ready to step in day one and play at a high level, but also then can also take the four, the three, the four star, maybe the borderline guy. And after two years, he's ready to become an impact player because you coach him, you work with him, you love him, you hold them accountable. Not everyone has to play day one, but everybody can't take three years. Right? So again, a lot of this is a blend that's more of an art than a science.
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B
You got it.
- [24:03]
A
I love it.
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B
You got it.
- [24:04]
A
Yeah, I love it. And along those lines, you mentioned today's day and age nil. That no one has a better pulse. You walk into every high school in America. You're at showcases, you're at camps, you're at seven on seven events. How do you recruit the families? I. I think maybe the bet the most beneficial aspect of hearing from you. If I'm a mom or a dad and I've got a. A son or a daughter who's getting ready to be recruited by a. A school at any level, how do I be a good sports parent? Like, when you're recruiting these kids, what are you looking for out of mom, dad, family, support, structure, neighborhood? Like, there's a lot more. When you recruit a kid, you're not just recruiting them, you're getting the entire bucket. Like, are there certain things that you look for or certain things you shy away from in regards to that?
- [24:52]
B
Yeah. I think that when you meet a family and they have core values that they believe in as a family, like, we're coming in here, coach, and we're not looking to transfer. Like, we understand that everything that when our son walks in the door, he's going to have to earn everything that he gets. Now, we'd like to know the situation, we'd like to know what's going to happen. But in our family, we want to earn everything that we have in our family. X, Y and Z. You know, like, I think when parents come in and they just, you know, they just kind of like, well, you know, is my son going to start, you know, and, you know, they just start asking about all these different things. You know, it's fine. We have parents who are like that. But the ones that I appreciate the most look at their son and say, okay, this is going to be his life. We're here to counsel him, we're here to help him. But ultimately, he's the one who's going to have to live this life. He's the one who's gonna have to come in here and do it. And we know it's not going to be easy along the way. We know that there's going to be days where he's going to wake up and say, you know what? I'm not even sure I want to play football. I'm not sure I want to go to this school. But if we go through this process the right way and, and understand that, like, this is what we're going to do, I Mean, you told me the story about when your dad said, listen, you're, you're not leaving Miami. Like that made you go back and say, shoot, I don't have a choice anymore. I got to make this work. Like, to me, those are the stories I love. Because, you know, as, as parents, if, if you're enabling them or you're always giving them an out or you're saying, well, you know, the coaching's no good, or making excuses for them, they're always going to count on those excuses. They know they have an escape hatch. If they're forced to figure this out on their own, that, to me, is where the best success stories happen.
- [26:38]
A
No doubt. Do you think, though, and this last couple things, I'll let you go. And again, I can't thank you enough for doing this. Do you think that you now at the stage you are in your career and where the program at Ohio State is coming off a national championship at the top, do you feel like now you're in a greater position than maybe for a young college coach who's trying to turn a program around? He's up against the gun. He's maybe in year two or three and he needs some results or he's probably going to be showing the door. Like, do you feel like there's a process in all this where when you get to a place like you're at, you can be a lot more steady in your principles, a lot more picky in your recruiting because you like. Is that a luxury maybe that you guys have earned that maybe years ago when you first started, or maybe some of your past stops before Ohio State, you maybe didn't have the ability to, to be in that position.
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B
I mean, maybe, you know, I think when you're young and you don't have the benefit of the doubt, you know, you have to work through those times. You know, I look about like, you know, the way that Kirk Ferenc has been at Iowa, you know, I mean, that's a different place. And he's just been so steady and developing people year in, year out. You know, everybody's at a different place. But when, when you're a first time head coach, I, I do agree with you. I think, I think that happened to me a little bit. You know, when you're a first time head coach at Ohio State, you don't necessarily get the benefit of the doubt until you win a national championship and you feel that you do. Yeah. But you can't all of a sudden start changing what you believe in. You know, you can't start becoming and cut corners and start saying, well, I'm going to do this just to win this season because eventually it's not going to work. Now some people's philosophy is win and do everything they can to win right now and then either take the next job or deal with it the next year. And that's their own philosophy. My philosophy has always been the decisions that we make are based on the long term. Like I'd like to be here for 20 years. So that's the way that I look at it. And so every decision that we make is made under that lens of like not just for this year now sometimes, you know, you certainly want to win that year. You're going to fill a hole maybe in the transfer portal. I'm not talking about that. I just mean the long term decisions of like we want a stable, you know, program here for a long time. So that's the way that I look at it. The second thing about making decisions is having a son, which we've always made these decisions this way. But it's made it easier for me having a son that's gone through the process is that how would I want my son treated? And that brings you to every decision that you need looking at it through the long term and then how would I want my trans, my son treated if he was in the program? And that really helps clarify the decision making process.
- [29:16]
A
Before we get back to the episode, let's continue our conversation with with RCX Sports founder and CEO Isel Reese to hear how they are working with professional leagues to elevate the youth sports experience.
- [29:28]
C
These clubs and these teams of, you know, pick your sport. NBA does a phenomenal job as well. They've been wanting to do more and so having this conduit and having us in the middle to kind of be an extension of them and. But this is all we focus on, right? So because at the end of the day the pro, pro leagues and their respective teams, they want to do more, but they also have a professional team or a professional club that they got to run and they got to go get a Super bowl or go win a championship, right? So, so, so having us in the middle to kind of be this is all I'm thinking about. My super bowl is youth sports. My super bowl is, you know, seeing, seeing these kids and them getting that opportunity. So now you got somebody who has expertise but then also the league operator. So I'm go to the other spectrum at local parking rec, at local wide, those different type of groups, independent groups, those are what we call and we say that local league operator where those, those people that are those boots on the ground, those coaches that are volunteering those times, there's officials that are involved and getting behind them and supporting them. And so that's what we spend a lot of emphasis on and supporting those two, 2,000 plus league operators, creating efficient efficiencies for them, giving them tools and resources, truly being that one stop shop for them and supporting them and servicing them so that they can deliver that good, that great experience for those kids within those respective communities. So and that's, that's kind of how, you know, again we're connecting all the dots if you will. And it's worked extremely well. You know, still a lot of Runway and continue to grow and accelerate it and enhance it. And I think it's a constant push to get more kids back in sport because at the end of the day there's still a lion's share of kids that are not playing sport. How do we get them back to, you know, to being involved in engagement sport? Youth sports isn't, isn't going anywhere. But we do know that there aren't as many kids playing youth sports as it used to be. And some of it is because of barriers, some of it because, you know, a variety of things. And so I don't see any slowing down because I mean, you know, you have this opportunity to continue to enhance and pulling kids back in and every parent wants, every parents wants their kids on a, on a local giving Saturday in their local community to participate and it also to be a better and great experience. And so I don't see this slowing down at all. I mean, I know we got our foot on the gas and, and we're going to continue to do it and it's working. And so there's also a lot of demand for, you know, from, from other sports that have, you know, inquired and asked, hey, how can we be on your platform and what you're doing? We see what, what's happening but we want to make sure that, you know, we can continue to deliver and dot the eyes and cross the T's and make it a good experience for, for the sports that we're involved in now.
- [32:22]
A
To learn more and find a league near you, visit rcxsports.com I wanted to end there. We've talked about your coaching philosophy and building locker room and cultures. But I want to talk about being a dad for a minute. Remove yourself as the head coach of the national champions. Remove yourself as the head coach or Ohio State you have a son who's going through the recruiting process as we sit here today. And obviously you've been on the other side of the table on now, on this side of the table you just touched on in a minute. But I'd ask you to just explore it a little bit more.
- [32:54]
B
Like, what.
- [32:56]
A
Where is. Where else has your perspective changed now that you've said, okay, I'm now the dad sitting next to another coach, talking to him, like, what is this process like for you? Like, can you. Are you going to recruit your son? Could you ever coach your son? Like, talk me, I played for my dad in high school. Like, it was no greater experience, but it was hard as hell.
- [33:16]
B
Yeah.
- [33:17]
A
Where are you as far as the relationship between dad, son, coach?
- [33:23]
B
Yeah, Yeah. I think that there's such a balance of if you don't advocate for your son, nobody's going to. And in today's day and age, the truth of it is there's so many adults that are involved that if you just think he's going to be fine on his own, it's probably not going to be the case. Somewhere along the line, you have to advocate for your children, but there's also crossing the line. You have to let them go and figure stuff out on their own. Now, my son's in a very unique situation here. You know, he is motivated to outwork everybody. He almost feels like he has to work double hard because people think just because he's my son, he gets certain opportunities and things like that. But the truth is he actually has to work twice as hard, and that's what motivates him. I know he's never even told me that, but I know in his heart that's the case. Case. But I've really tried to help the best I can. I've tried to come over there as a dad and. And, you know, be a part of it. So he feels that experience, but also taking a step back and realizing, like, in this recruiting process, it's all about people. That's it. Like, I've raised my son to a certain point when I hand them over to another program, like, it has to be the right fit for what he wants. He's a football junkie. That's really all he cares about. And he. He's going to need to be. Be around people that love football, but also people that care about relationships. And I think that is important. My wife will have a very important part of this and feeling comfortable with wherever he goes. But in terms of coaching him, I think here at Ohio State, it would be a huge challenge for him to be a part of Ohio State with everything going on. I'm not sure his mother would let him do it, but who knows? I'm not going to rule it out. We'll kind of see where it shakes out. This is a big junior year for him. It's been fun to watch. It's been fun to see him grow into the role, how strong he is. I mean, the minute he gets off the bus, people are going after him. And as you can imagine what that's like. But. But it only motivates him more. And it's been fun to see him grow. And. And it makes you more mature. You just grow up faster when you have to work through all those things that he has. And so he started as a freshman, started as a sophomore. This is a big junior year for him. So it's been great to go through the process. And that's a cool thing about being a coach, is that if you're an electrician or you're an insurance agent, your son isn't in the building, you don't share those experiences. He doesn't go on the road with you to a road game. He doesn't go to the bowl games. He's not at morning workouts. Like, he is here with me. He's in this facility getting recovery after every practice. And so we get to spend that time together, which has been special for as a dad and as a son. So that's been really cool. But I encourage, like, and I know you know this, having a dad as a coach, like, the more your kids and your family can be involved in your day to day as a coach, it just makes it so much more enjoyable. The players like to see you as a dad, they like to see you as a husband. And it makes it more enjoyable for your family because they feel more a part of it.
- [36:16]
A
Yeah, they see. And they see you as a human. They don't just see you as coach, they see the humanity. My last question, and I'm going to.
- [36:21]
B
Let you go, no problem.
- [36:23]
A
And I'm asking you to name a team right now and compare your program to them. I'm not looking to set off the Ohio State fans at all. Sir, in your heart of hearts, when you look around the landscape of the country, are there a couple guys that you recognize? And you go, you know what? I'm gonna take my coaching hat off as a dad. I want my son to go play for him because I think there's probably a lot of dads around the country. First thing I said to my wife when I came home from your practice last spring, I said, have I ever had. Now, my kids are young, but I said, if I ever had a high school kid and I had to turn him over, at or near the top of my list would be Ryan Day, like. And that's the God of honest truth. I said to my wife, I said, I don't even care about football. I don't care about what plays they run, what offense they run. If one guy is going to oversee your son for four years, I don't know how you do better than Ryan. So I'm going to ask you the same thing. Are there guys you look around the country and go, you know what? Football aside, I'll turn my son over to that guy because I've seen his programs, I've seen the way he's coached, the way he treats his kid. Like, is there a guy off the top of your head that you'd be willing to share with us that you just have a lot of respect for as a dad to say, I'll turn my kid over to play for you?
- [37:33]
B
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I appreciate you saying that. It means a lot. I mean, the guy that comes to mind a lot to me is Dabo. Dabo has. You know, when we first played them in 19, you know, in the Fiesta bowl, they had a great team. We had a battle. You know, it was Justin versus Trevor, and we had some really good players. And during one of the events, he and his wife came over and just had, you know, some real conversation. I remember Dabo saying, listen, like, you've done an unbelievable job. You've done a great job recruiting in your first year. He's like, you know, who knows what'll happen in this game if you beat us? You know, you'll probably win the national championship. If you don't, you're going to win a national championship. And, like, he didn't have to do that. I've been around a lot of coaches that wouldn't even take the time. You know, they posture and, you know, their egos get in the way. But the fact that he. I'll never forget that. And then we've gone on Nike trips before, and he just. He spends time. You know, he talks about his family, talks about his kids. And then you see the way he treats his players. And we went down to visit and. And he took RJ and I around the whole facility. Just the way that he's built it down there. I mean, I could probably get into a few Coaches. But he's the one that comes to mind the most of somebody that really has a great perspective on it. He's a great coach, but he's a great dad. And he really treats those guys in the building like they're his sons.
- [38:46]
A
Before we wrap up with Ryan Day, let's close out our conversation with our friends at RCX Sports. I spoke to a father and daughter who are living the youth sports experience daily to hear how RCX has helped them.
- [38:57]
D
I get excited to know that they'll have memories of doing some of these things. They'll know that their parents were able to take them out to go play these sports. They'll make friends all over the city with the way our city is now, with no not really coming community schools because everything's charter. You have, like, people spread all over the city. So it gives them a chance to meet new kids and have those experiences. And so that's something that brings joy to my heart, knowing that they're going to have a childhood that's full of joy, that's full of fun, and they get a chance to play all these different sports and see what they like. So that's been really exciting.
- [39:33]
C
It feels like I'm a pro and it feels like I feel actually playing for the team I'm wearing, and it.
- [39:41]
B
Feels like I'm the big league.
- [39:43]
D
They've done a great job of going all over the city, connecting with different schools, connecting with different. With different communities and creating a cause that allows all families to get a chance to be a part of playing, of getting a chance to be in the sports and to be a part of these teams. And so they've done a great job of just connecting with different community, different community members, getting the word out. I think you can tell by what's going on with 18th Ward that they're just doing an amazing job. And they're not all trying to do just one sport. They can do many sports. So all those things create an environment that creates a great place for kids to learn and grow.
- [40:26]
B
Having fun is very important because what's.
- [40:30]
C
The point of playing the game?
- [40:33]
A
To learn more and find a league near you, visit rcxsports.com I love it. Living here in Charlotte in the Carolinas. Dabo's reputation across the Carolinas is everything you just said. So that doesn't surprise me at all. Coach, on the heels of a national championship, I hope you guys have an awesome year. Unless you're playing Miami. That I get a little conflicted there. But, dude, I always pull for you guys, just because you talk about people, you could be the coach at Ohio State. You could be the coach of the moon. I cheer for you. I cheer for your program, what you stand for, ever since I've gotten to know you. Thank you for joining us on you think our fans, our listeners, they have no idea how fortunate they are to get a little insight into championship mindset at the highest level, but also a level of humanity. And, and I think the level of humanity in this ever competitive world of sports is often very times lost because everyone is just on to the next, onto the next, and to take a step, step back and just be a person, be a dad. Love these kids, I think is really refreshing and I think maybe no better voice to share with our listeners than yours, man. So I, I can't thank you enough, coach.
- [41:42]
B
No, thank you. And, and I think what you just said is important because like, even if you, if you watch that interview of, of Scotty Scheffler before the British Open and then watch him in and then see him embrace his son, like that's what it's about. It's about the humanity of all this. And sometimes I think we all lose that with everything that's going on. So it's an honor to be on here. You know how much I respect for you and I think this is a great, great thing that you're doing to help young coaches, young people. And so anything I can do to.