Just Keep Going: Building Champions at Rye | Tommy Prudian | Locked In Ep. 4

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You're about to quit.
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You're about to give up.
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Just keep on.
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You'll get the sign that you need.
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It's meant to be.
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Something like that will happen.
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Welcome to Locked In by the Winning Moments.
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I'm here today with a special guest, Tommy Prudion, who, if you live in Rye, which I was just telling Claudio about a great Rye story about getting pulled over on the side of the road and someone recognizing the winning moments.
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But if you live in Rye, this man means no introduction because he is the head foot head head basketball coach of the Section One champions of this Rye amazing season.
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And he's also the assistant football coach of Rye's second, actually technically first amazing season.
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Okay, because that happened before basketball.
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Tommy, welcome to the show.
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Thank you very much.
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John, appreciate you having me.
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It's a pleasure.
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And I'm excited to uh take part in this uh segment with you.
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I think Tommy might be the first guest here that has the same haircut as me.
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Uh rocking this uh this very beautiful uh in-style new modern haircut that we have.
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Never a bad hair day, like we were talking about.
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It is it is very true.
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Uh with this weather, better hair days are are are pretty often in that case.
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We need to get a sponsorship, Claudio, for like Gillette, Harry's Razors.
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Make that put that on the call.
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Call Harry's Razors, okay?
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The razor that I use to make sure that I always have a good hair day, as Tommy said.
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Well, Tommy, listen, man, you weren't always bold, okay?
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Uh so let's talk about the younger years of life.
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Uh where'd you grow up?
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I grew up in Nourashell, New York.
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Graduated Nourashell High School in 1991, and then went to Iona College uh for the next four years.
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So let's go back to the early, early days before we jump into your uh illustrious college career, because a lot that I want to talk about there, uh especially growing up in New Rochelle.
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There's so many things I want to talk about for New Rochelle football.
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Uh as you are a football star.
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But football wasn't your first sport, was it?
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No.
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So what was the first sport you played as a kid?
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Baseball and soccer.
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Baseball and soccer, yeah.
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Soccer was very popular in Rochelle.
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Youth soccer was very popular, hundreds of teams every Saturday.
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All the schools, all the fields in town uh were filled with uh youth soccer players, all of us, you know, from first grade all the way up to like probably eighth or ninth grade.
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And baseball, obviously little league.
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Those were two very popular sports.
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So I I played soccer and baseball in the early part of my my life.
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Well, how young were you when you started?
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Uh probably kindergarten, first grade.
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And did you like soccer better than baseball?
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Or um no, it was probably equal.
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It w it back then there wasn't this specialization and playing all year round.
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So it was, you know, fall, play soccer, spring baseball, and then uh mess around with a little bit of basketball and ice hockey in the winter.
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But uh those were the very popular sports in there, shell.
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Um I like I messed around with ice hockey.
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Like, yeah, it's not so much equipment or or five o'clock ranks or ice hockey is a sport that I'm so grateful that my kids never got into.
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Because all the ice hockey parents that I know, it's four or five o'clock in the morning ice time.
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Not to mention you have the biggest bag to carry no matter what, if whether you're a goalie or not a goalie.
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But ice hockey is a a sport that I'm so grateful.
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Because listen, I'll get up early enough, like 6, 6:30, but 4 o'clock in the morning to take my kids to play ice hockey, oh, I'd be miserable.
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That's that's what ended my ice hockey career.
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That my parents weren't too keen on exactly what you said, you know, early morning practices, midweek school night, late practices.
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I like I said, I was already playing basketball and football.
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It's like how much, you know, how much can you do?
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So that that ended that hockey career.
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There's uh there's a I'm sure there's a bunch of NHL players right now, thanking God that you didn't make it there on the ice.
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Their career wouldn't have been the same with you out there as as the athlete that you are.
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So let's talk about as a young kid, you're now playing these two sports, which I think at that time uh you're you're I'm a little older than you are.
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So at that time, or maybe a little younger than you are.
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I'm not too sure.
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Claudio and I go back and forth on on how who looks younger in this particular case.
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Uh so Claudio always uh no one would know that Claudio was actually older than me in in in life.
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But yeah, our our lovely producer over here.
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But going back to you in this scenario, I feel like when we grew up together, when we grew up, soccer was the fall sport to play.
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Yes.
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Uh and baseball, I mean Little League was was not where it is today.
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Little League was probably the sport in America back back then.
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Yeah, travel baseball is taking over, you know, ruin ruin the rec leagues and stuff.
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Oh, these AAU sports are outrageous.
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I mean it's a whole different topic of how people are getting ripped off.
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Billion dollar industry then.
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It it it really is uh private trainings.
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Yeah.
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I mean, we we talk about it often of like you think about when we were younger, like you can met you can mess up a kid's game by maybe yelling at them too much or or you know getting down on them.
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There's different ways of coaching, and we'll get to your coaching career when we get there.
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But now I think you mess kids up more by putting them in these private trainings with somebody that you haven't vetted to know like do they even know the skills?
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True.
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You need to know the skills at that young.
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You basically go in private to learn the skills, not to learn how to play the sport, but learn the little skills to tweak it, like how to run faster in track, which I always amaze me when people are like, I got a track coach.
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Right.
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What do you need a track coach for?
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They say start, you run, you run as hard as you can, so you go.
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But when you get to that college level, they have like little things that shave seconds off of small little tweaks, like you see little uh modifications that can make make the difference because tenths of a second in that sport is a is a big deal.
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It's a it's a gold medal.
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Yeah, it's a gold medal.
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100%.
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It's crazy.
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So let's keep let's keep it at your your young age.
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You know, you're playing soccer and and uh and baseball.
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Now, football was also very popular, very good youth tackle for program in Neurochell.
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It still exists, a very good youth tackle program, Neurochell.
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But my parents weren't big fans of um, I wasn't the biggest kid.
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I wasn't the strongest because a little skinny and scrainy.
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And Neurochell's very competitive, big school, big town.
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I don't think they wanted me to subject me.
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I they wanted to subject me to that, you know, physicality and aggressiveness.
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That I don't think I was ready yet physically.
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So how how was every football still excuse me?
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Howled was uh uh football, like what was the what was the P Re League?
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Pop Warner?
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Yeah, Warner Players.
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So Hald started right first, second grade.
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Okay a lot of my friends who I grew up with did play, but I wasn't you know the strongest kid.
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So my parents didn't really want uh you know me to take part in it.
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So I I did soccer and like I said, baseball.
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But um there's very successful youth tackle program, Nourishell, then and still today, you know, all the way from first grade all the way up to around like probably seventh or eighth grade.
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It's it's fascinating because what I hear is I mean, listen, we come from a different generation where most parents didn't even think about the physicality of it.
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I didn't play football.
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I didn't play tackle football because my parents couldn't afford the pets.
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Which is funny because when my younger brother played, who was a great football star, uh played at Walter Panas.
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When he played when we were kids, he wanted to play football.
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And somehow my parents found the money for him.
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But for me, there was no money when I wanted to play football.
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When my friends were playing, uh so I played, I played soccer, and it got me into basketball, which I I have zero regrets on, and baseball as well, the sports that you didn't need a lot of money to play.
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Football was an expensive sport.
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Yeah.
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Uh probably this then is probably like lacrosse now.
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Yeah.
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And hockey.
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And hockey.
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Yeah, hockey's very expensive.
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Very expensive.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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So how'd you get into football?
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Well, I always did play, like, you know, in the in the in the park, recess with friends, pickup, and always wanted to, wanted to.
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And then finally, by the way, I didn't start until ninth grade.
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I didn't play football until ninth grade.
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I finally grew a little bit, got a little bit stronger, and then they, you know, they finally let me let you play.
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Let me play.
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How how okay, so one people don't understand, like today, pickup football is is like flatter football, okay?
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No, no, no.
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Or two-and-touch.
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When we played pickup football, the carrier.
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Another reference that our younger audience will have no idea what it is, but we laugh about it.
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But yes, we played regular tackle football.
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I had a three-man line.
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We had a three-man line when we played.
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Yep.
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We went to different neighborhoods to play, okay?
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You had the the the worst, probably the safest thing we did was a hike off the butt compared to letting the snap.
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Right.
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So this way everybody can try to kill each other on the line.
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But yeah, we played our pickup games, straight tackle.
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Like concussions, knees to the head.
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Not rugby, football.
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Yeah.
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Yes.
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Rugby they don't have equipment but they but they're taught to keep their head out of it.
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No, we were not thinking that at all.
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Especially at my size, my head was in it.
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It was getting lower as I can.
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Okay.
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Didn't care how tall you were, how big you were.
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I wasn't going to be the kid that let you let you get past me.
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Right.
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No.
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So yes, pickup football is uh is how you learn to be so tough.
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But you separate the men from the boys really quick playing that.
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Oh man.
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Oh.
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I remember like pickup football was was one of the funnest things we had, especially because I uh when I grew up in the Bronx, we did for football and for basketball, but basketball was a little different because there's only like two or three areas that we had rivals with uh that we go to their court and play.
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And you only play one game and then you're there.
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You can play more games.
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So now it's regular pickup basketball.
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Whereas pickup football, it's like, all right, it's 10 o'clock on Sunday.
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We're coming to your field or you're coming to ours.
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Right.
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We're gonna murder each other.
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Okay, so there is no game two, there's no pickup after that.
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Okay, there's just okay, some survived.
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Winners aren't staying on here.
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No, no, winners are not staying on in this pickup football game.
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I love I love how you put that together.
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Yeah.
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Pickup football.
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I can't kids play tackle football.
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We'll see you next week.
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Next is next week.
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And I can imagine in in Blindbrook if my kids played tackle football, okay, and they played on the school field, because that's really the only field you can play on, uh, even though it wouldn't be on school time frames.
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I can imagine the call I would get like uh your son is bullying uh my son.
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Why?
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Well, because he tackled him too hard.
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Okay.
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He hit him too many times on the tackle.
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Oh man, times have changed, Tommy.
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Times have changed.
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They have.
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All right, so let's let's let's get to let's get to football.
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Okay, because you had a really good career in football.
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Uh so ninth grade was the first time you played organized correctly football.
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Yeah.
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Organized.
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That was uh so we didn't have a freshman team in the Urshell, so I played JV um my freshman year and split time with um I guess you'd say an incumbent who was uh year older than me.
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So I played half the year.
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Ended up having a very good year, and then at the end of that year, our JV season ended.
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And the varsity would always bring up how they do now in most sports that the JV season ends, and for like sectionals, like playoffs.
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So we bring a couple of JV kids up.
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So um we didn't make a bowl game of the playoffs that year in in 1987 at Nourishell, but we did have the turkey ball, like we were talking about Turkey Ball Iona Prep versus Nourashell was a huge, huge rivalry for many years in Nourashell.
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Catholic school Iona Prep in Nourishell, Nourashell was the public school, like I said, we were discussing earlier.
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We played that turkey ball went from, I believe, the 1940s to the early 2000s.
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So, and that was always it's like very similar to Rye Harrison.
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That that that's how big it was.
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Rye Harrison, Nourish Ion Prep is very similar.
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Now, was it very similar rivalry?
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Was it that way because they were both good in sports, or was it that way because one was public, one was private?
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One probably in the same town.
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Yeah, same too.
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I like that rivalry.
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Yeah, okay.
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Nourish high school's where it is, and I underprep's up in the north end of Nourashell.
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Yeah, because those prep kids would always think that they're they're better because they're prep kids.
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Not all of them, no one stereotyped the entire crew, but prep versus public.
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I mean, that's that I like that.
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Yeah, and it was and uh and back then a lot of um the uh enrollment at Iona Prep, even be prior to me, was made up of uh Nourashell kids.
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So a lot of them grew up together, you know, going back in the 40s, 50s, 60s.
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You had the parochial school kids, which is fine.
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Parents believe in a parochial school education, right?
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And Nourishell, the public school kids, so they would end up playing on Thanksgiving Day against like their friends they grew up with.
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Yep.
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You know, kind of.
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Now, did you have any friends that you played uh pickup football with that went to Iona?
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No, but I had friends that I knew very well who did grow up in Nourashell who went to Iona Prep.
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Gotcha.
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To a little league or like youth leagues growing up, you know, and just being around Nourishell Highway.
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But nobody who you embarrassed in eighth grade, all right, by by tossing, tossing or out running them.
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No.
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And you couldn't wait to get to that turkey bowl and be like, all right, you thought you can get me without pads on?
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I got pads on now.
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Let's see what you got.
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No, no, unfortunately, no.
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Let's talk about that turkey bowl because that had to be an amazing.
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I mean, I'm I it's hard to compare it to something today, but I would say it's like when these kids get to play under the lights.
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Okay.
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It's not a normal, not a normal game.
00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:23.120
They get under the lights.
00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:29.039
Not every school has lights uh for each sport, but playing like a Friday night game in that scenario.
00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:31.279
Turkey bowl.
00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:32.080
All right.
00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:32.399
Yeah.
00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:34.320
How important was that?
00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:36.399
That that's all the coaches spoke about.
00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:37.120
That was the big one.
00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:39.519
Didn't matter about winning sections, it just mattered the turkey ball.
00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:41.440
That was the big game.
00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:46.240
You you um based your season on your success, and if you won the turkey bowl, it was successfully.
00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:52.720
If it was the only winner, you went two and eight or one and seven, but you won the turkey bowl, it was a sec it was a successful year.
00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:53.840
That that is great.
00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:54.720
And it was great.
00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.759
It was on Thanksgiving Day, it was at Memorial Field neutral site.
00:13:57.919 --> 00:13:58.080
Okay.
00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:00.559
Not at Iona Prep, not in Nero Shell.
00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:07.440
And um from the late 60s to the late 80s, it was on PIX W Channel 11 every morning on television.
00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:08.399
Wait a minute.
00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:08.720
Yes.
00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:10.000
Filmed live.
00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:10.720
Live.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.440
A live high school game, turkey ball on Thanksgiving Day.
00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.399
Spencer Ross and Aubrey Lewis were the guys you were the announcers.
00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:19.200
Oh man, that had that had to be that had to be amazing.
00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:19.840
It was.
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:20.320
Yeah.
00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:29.919
I remember you'd go to college and uh you'd meet somebody and they were from like Long Island or New Jersey, and you'd tell they ask you, Where'd you go to school?
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:30.879
You went to Nourish Show.
00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:34.639
I used to watch, I used to watch the turkey ball every Thanksgiving morning.
00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:39.679
So that that really added to the that I mean that's to the whole thing.
00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:40.559
I've never even heard of that.
00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:44.960
I mean, now you hear about with the with the advent of ESPN happening.
00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:45.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.480
But no, no, on local TV, the turkey bowl.
00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:49.519
That's that's crazy.
00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.440
And there weren't many Friday night lights then.
00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.440
We played football Saturday afternoon.
00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:53.759
Yeah.
00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:55.120
Yeah, there were no there were no lights.
00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:55.440
Yeah.
00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:55.840
No.
00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:59.440
It's that's that's really cool now that the kids have the opportunity to play on Friday nights.
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:00.799
No, I completely agree.
00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:01.919
Way better than Saturday.
00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:05.440
Some of the stadiums, I mean, they're they're outrageous.
00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:06.480
Like they're just great.
00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:11.519
Uh joke around about how how good the baseball facilities are at North Rockland.
00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:12.320
Oh, it was beautiful.
00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:13.600
It's it's it's insane.
00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:15.120
And uh it's like a college campus.
00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:16.000
It's like a college campus.
00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:17.200
It's like a college campus.
00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:23.039
And I was joking around with with with the UAD, like, hey man, where's the where's like the the new scoreboard for football?
00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:24.879
You know, he's like, it's coming.
00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.679
It's it's coming, and it's gonna be like a jumbo tron.
00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:30.720
Okay, I can't wait to see that one.
00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:31.279
But yeah.
00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:33.279
All right, so the turkey bowl.
00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:35.360
So why don't they do the turkey bowl now anymore?
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:43.039
Um the state changed the rules and how many games you could play uh in in a season, I believe.
00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:55.279
And then also both teams were being very successful and they were going on to the state playoffs, and there were a few years, early 2000s, where Nourashell made runs to the dome, and Iona Prep wasn't able to they weren't able to play the turkey ball because of that.
00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:03.759
And I think it was a combination of those things with certain number of games you're allowed to play, or the state let you play.
00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.120
If Nourishell went too far, then they wouldn't be able to play the turkey ball.
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:15.120
And then also one team not making not making a run, have to wait around for three or four weeks to see if there would be a turkey ball.
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:17.600
So that kind of ended that rivalry.
00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:19.759
So that was around like that, the Ray Rice Right?
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.240
Yeah, Ray Rice around 2003 or four.
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:26.080
I believe he played in a couple in the 2000, 2001, 2002.
00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:27.600
I think 02 was the last one.
00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:33.600
And then 03, 04, I believe Neurochell went to the dome and played in the state championships so they couldn't play the turkey ball those years.
00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:44.080
And then I believe that ended it with combination of um the limit, state limited number of games, contests you could play outside of state playoffs.
00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:44.399
Gotcha.
00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.399
If it's a state playoff game, you could play it.
00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:51.919
But it it wasn't, it was more of a rivalry game, uh, you know, uh at large, you know, like a crossover type game.
00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.879
So Ray Ray Rice Ray Rice killed the turkey ball.
00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.679
Oh I actually played basketball against Ray Rice.
00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:58.639
Ray's a great athlete.
00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.720
He's he's one of the great young man, great athletes.
00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:01.679
He he he really is.
00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:05.200
There's a few professional athletes that I got to play against.
00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:10.400
Uh he was the professional football player that I played against, maybe like seven or eight years now.
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:24.000
And I tell this story where we uh we go to Brandon Steiner's house, who has a court-sized house, raised there, and um he's talking to everybody, nicest guy you could imagine, uh, open, having any conversation that you want to have.
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:27.839
And now he's obviously one of the youngest guys there.
00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:34.559
And we show up after we were playing some games, and I was probably I'm 48 now.
00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:36.079
I might have been 40 years old.
00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:42.400
So I was I was I was really, really like prime shape of that scenario playing against Ray.
00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.160
I scored the first time.
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:47.039
He then, okay, we were playing half court.
00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:52.000
He then, you know, you can see now, okay, now he's ready to play because nobody was really scoring on him.
00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:53.759
Uh, I hit another jump shot.
00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:56.160
Then there was a play that I knew he was gonna do like a drop step.
00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:56.880
I had him down low.
00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:57.680
He was gonna do a drop step.
00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.599
I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna hold my ground, I'll be fine.
00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:01.119
He dropstepped.
00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:02.640
I was in the wall.
00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:03.839
Okay, okay.
00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:08.079
He just literally just simple drop step, hit me in the chest, I'm in the wall.
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:08.799
He scores.
00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:10.960
I'm like, all right, I got it.
00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:12.880
I understand the difference in that case.
00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:13.920
Different level.
00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:18.799
But then he does something that just shows the difference of a professional athlete.
00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.759
I have the ball, I'm at three-point line, okay?
00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:23.839
It's it's close to game point or something like that.
00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.160
So now he's really gonna play defense.
00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:34.319
And the guy was cut was covering me, I did like a pump fake, and I came to the free throw to do like a mid-range, and I went to pull up and he jumped, and I'll never forget this.
00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:39.519
He jumped, and basically I couldn't shoot it because his legs, his legs were coming over my shoulder.
00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:41.039
Like he was flying by me.
00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:43.279
I was like, like Superman.
00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:45.759
I was like, yo, yeah, how did he jump that high?
00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.079
You know, and then I was like, I don't know what to do.
00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:53.440
Just pass the ball off, even though I it was a great move to pump fake Ray Rice, but he literally, his feet are like this way.
00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:55.200
I'm like, different athlete.
00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:56.559
Yeah, totally different athlete.
00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:58.559
You get humbled very quickly.
00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:08.160
You get humbled when you when you participate and play against athletes of his caliber, and you realize that's why he is, where he is, that's why where he went, where he went.
00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.400
Great athlete, great career, great young man.
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:15.359
I know him a little bit, he was a little younger than me, but phenomenal, phenomenal young man every time I see him.
00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:19.359
And like you said, he's very open, helps the youth a lot, really gives back.
00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:26.640
He does, has done a lot of great things and still does, but super, super young man, and I'm just happy I I know him, got to know him.
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:28.160
Yeah, yeah, but to your point of mind.
00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:29.839
I'm proud that he's a Nourishellian.
00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:30.000
Yeah.
00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.799
So yeah, super guy.
00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:33.359
Awesome.
00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:36.240
Well, listen, let's let's let's talk about your football career.
00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.480
Uh, because it's not like you just uh stopped at ninth grade here.
00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:41.039
No, yeah.
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:43.759
So I got pulled up for for the Turkey Bow in ninth grade.
00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:51.359
I actually got into a couple of plays in that game as a ninth grader, and then now we go to 10th grade on varsity.
00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:55.680
I win the I win the starting varsity job as the starting quarterback as a tenth grader.
00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:03.279
And our last scrimmage before opening the day, we go out to Monsignor Farrell and I break my arm in the scrimmage.
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:04.960
Oh that's it.
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:06.000
As a sophomore.
00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:07.039
Yeah, as a sophomore.
00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:07.839
So I must have been.
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:09.200
Was it your throwing arm or you broke away?
00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:10.240
No, left arm.
00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:10.400
Okay.
00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:13.119
I got hit from behind.
00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.599
I went down like you go down, brace yourself.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.759
It's but the the defensive player, you know, kept driving me.
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:21.440
I didn't think he was gonna tie me in the ground.
00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:22.720
So snapped.
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:24.720
I made it back in time.
00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:27.839
I was healthy for the turkey bowl that year in '88.
00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:31.920
And I actually got in, threw a couple of passes in that game in some passing situations.
00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:33.519
I love how important this turkey bowl game is.
00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:34.079
I really do.
00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:35.039
So, and that was it.
00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:35.839
We tied that year.
00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:38.319
So it was a ninth grader, they killed us 25-0.
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:40.480
They beat us bad 25-0 in 87.
00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:42.400
88 was a 14-14 tie.
00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:48.559
So I was able to get back and at least get healthy and get into a couple of plays in the turkey bowl.
00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.799
You know how I know the turkey bowl was so important to you?
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:51.599
Okay.
00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:53.759
Because you remember the score.
00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:54.160
Yeah.
00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:54.640
Okay.
00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:03.359
We could probably talk about the plays that you made in that case, and I'm probably sure you could talk about the plays and the routes that ran, and the passes that were complete, and the throws that you had off compared to being on.
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:03.759
Oh, yeah.
00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:06.799
That's how I can tell how important the turkey bowl was for you as a kid.
00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:08.319
That was the big one.
00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:16.640
Listen, one of the greatest things that I enjoy now as putting out the winning moments is these stories that we're talking about.
00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:30.640
And our technology allows because these kids now, and we'll get to your coaching career a little later, but we these kids now can relive the moments, right, by using our tap technology compared to you and I that have to go to the brain and uh okay.
00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:34.240
Sometimes you tap the brain and you don't get that response.
00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:43.440
The stories my stories get uh uh better and better, like, yeah, okay, it was 30 degrees below zero in the game where I scored the winning soccer goal, right?
00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.160
I remember like I couldn't even feel my toes.
00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.359
They had to cut my pinky toe off, is what it felt like in that game.
00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:52.079
But yeah, yeah, you know, that's the benefit of getting old.
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:52.799
You can't prove those things.
00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:56.880
That's the benefit of there being no technology, so they can't hard harder to fact check.
00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:57.519
Right, right.
00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:58.240
No fact check.
00:21:58.480 --> 00:21:59.519
No one's got the newspapers anymore.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.200
That scenario.
00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:05.519
All right, so you go on sophomore year, junior year, senior year.
00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:07.440
You have a pretty good high school career.
00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:08.000
Yeah.
00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:14.319
How did the college recruiting okay, coming out of Newark, which was a which was a pretty big football town?
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.880
So in high school, I ended up starting my um junior year and senior year.
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:20.079
We had pretty good years there.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:21.279
We were pretty successful.
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:28.960
We ran the wing T in uh high school, which we didn't throw the ball that much, maybe seven, eight, nine, ten times a game at most.
00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:31.039
Typical high school of yeah, which is totally fine.
00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:37.839
And for that era, there were a couple of schools who did run the run and shoot, which is the offense I would run at Iona.
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:42.960
So that kind of leads to one of you guys to actually throw the ball?
00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:43.359
Yeah.
00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:43.759
Yeah.
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:55.359
So I I just basically um I'll tell you, I'll tell you what was a big piece was the Iona prep coach in the late 80s became an assistant coach at Iona College.
00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:58.400
So he knew me.
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.599
So he he ended up recruiting me to go to Iona.
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:02.880
That's actually fascinating.
00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:13.839
So getting back to the Turkey Bowl, uh, I'd give some more credit to the Turkey Bowl because the coach you were playing against knew who you were and then eventually recruited you to go play football at Iona.
00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:14.559
Yes.
00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:18.799
He actually he actually recruited me there.
00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:20.799
I went to Hofstra first.
00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:21.279
Okay.
00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:26.400
He was at he went to Iona and then left Iona and went to Hofstra, so he recruited me at Hofstra.
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:29.920
Okay, so he went, he left Iona Prep, then he coached at Hofstra.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:30.400
Yes.
00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:32.880
But he knew you obviously from New Rochelle and the circuit bowl.
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:34.640
But I ended up going back to Iona.
00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:40.880
So did he not did he not recruit you uh to try to get you to go from New Rochelle to Iona Prep?
00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:49.039
No, because he had left, he had left after my sophomore year and went to Iona for a couple years and then went to Hofstra.
00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:52.240
So then he was already at Iona College in Hofstra when we're gonna go.
00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:52.960
Gotcha, he was already out.
00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:57.839
He couldn't couldn't get you as a junior and senior to come to Iona Prep to beat New Rochelle in the Turkey Bowl.
00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:59.519
Did you guys win a turkey bowl in your four years?
00:23:59.680 --> 00:23:59.920
Yes.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:02.400
So my junior year and senior year, we won the turkey ball.
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:03.440
So that's okay.
00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:09.839
So according based off of that, it was a great high school career because we beat them both both those, won both turkey balls.
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:16.079
When you were the starting varsity uh quarterback from the regular season on, you were the turkey bowl champion.
00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:17.440
That's all that matters.
00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:18.160
That's all that matters.
00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.519
That's all that matters in high school.
00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:20.400
I absolutely love that.
00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:23.200
Okay, so now now we talk about some college.
00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:34.720
Okay, because you were you were right starting college quarterback, okay, which again is a lot different than being a high school quarterback to your point, where you're running a lot more on the high school side.
00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:36.559
College, you got to actually throw the ball.
00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:36.960
Yes.
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:38.319
Where'd you go first?
00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:42.799
So I went to Hofstra, ended up red shirting there, and then transferring back to Iona.
00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:54.559
And when I got to Iona as a freshman, there was a senior quarterback who um he had a four-year starter, legit four-year starter from day one, four-year starter.
00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:56.880
So I sat behind him.
00:24:57.039 --> 00:24:59.519
I was I won the backup job behind him.
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:13.920
He was a senior, I was a redshired freshman, and he got hurt late in the year, and I ended up starting my last three games, my freshman year, and then every game after that, sophomore, junior, and senior at Iona.
00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:15.680
But we ran the run and shoot now.
00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.880
So run and shoot, you know, like Warren Moon at Houston.
00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:20.960
Uh, I think the Falcons ran it also.
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:26.960
Klingler ran it at University Houston, which is four wide receivers, no tight ends.
00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:31.039
I'm in the shotgun, throwing the ball 40, 50, 60 times a game at some point.
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:36.240
So the offense provided me the opportunity to put up the numbers I did.
00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:48.960
And I had a great supporting cast, great coach, who you know gave me the keys to castle who believed in me as a young freshman and as a sophomore, and uh, you know, great receivers, line, you know, it football's the ultimate team sport.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:50.480
You can't you can't do it on your own.
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:55.440
So yeah, I did have very good numbers, but I had a great supporting cast around me, receivers and line.
00:25:55.519 --> 00:26:00.000
And like I said, head coach and who believed in me, and then the offense.
00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.839
So it's a you know, it's an amalgamation of things, which which is fascinating.
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:16.559
So I want to ask you first some sports you can translate from high school to college and start immediately and really really sometimes there's no benefit of sitting behind somebody.
00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:20.720
Like in basketball, there's no benefit of sitting behind the point guard that's in front of you.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.839
The game's just a little faster and the guys are a little bit better.
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:24.160
Right.
00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.559
You want to win your starting spot, you can start immediately and translate.
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:38.480
But in football, how important was you sitting behind that quarterback, not only from going from a running offense to a passing offense, like tell us how important it was and how much you learned not starting.
00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:39.759
Extremely important.
00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:46.160
One is he he was a great player and he was also very um helpful, welcomed me with open arms.
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:50.000
Two, as wing T, you're running, we're running option most of the time.
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:52.000
I'm not throwing the ball as a play action pass.
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:57.359
So in the run and shoot, you're actually now reading defenses, which I didn't really do much of in high school.
00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:57.759
Right.
00:26:57.839 --> 00:26:58.559
You're just running for your life.
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:06.880
Cover one, cover two, cover three, with college, you you have to learn that.
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:14.720
So that red shirt year, and then sitting for those first seven, eight weeks behind the uh the starter at Iona helped me learn.
00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:29.359
And I don't think I would have had the success I had early on if I didn't have that red shirt year and and those seven or eight weeks sitting behind the senior, learning, learning how to read defenses and just picking his brain when he came off the field, like why'd you do that?
00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:31.359
You know, I'm asking questions.
00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:34.799
Or in film, we watch film a lot more, you know.
00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:38.960
So I it was very important that I had that time to learn.
00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:43.920
On-the-job training in football as a quarterback, you have a short-lived career.
00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:45.440
You could, but very quick.
00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:47.200
You know, it's a very difficult position.
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:52.400
I'm not saying that just because I played it, it's a very difficult position to play and to learn how to play.
00:27:52.640 --> 00:28:00.640
But if I got in there too early and I didn't play that well, maybe they would have gone to the three or four other guys who are on depth chart.
00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:02.559
You know, Tommy had his chance.
00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:03.119
Right.
00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:04.880
Your window is short.
00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:06.640
Your window is much shorter in football.
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:22.240
So, yeah, you want to get in there and play right away, but I'm looking at the glass half full, whereas I learned a lot about the game and how to navigate the position by having that time to sit back and, you know, look at it from a different perspective than being thrown in the fire.
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:29.279
I know if I ask you what's the favorite game you're what's your most favorite game you ever played in, I can predict that answer.
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:34.000
But in college, what was your favorite game that you ever played in?
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:35.039
Tell us about that.
00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:44.400
So 1993, they started a the Mac football conference, which was comprised of uh like Georgetown, Siena, Kenetius, Marist, uh St.
00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:45.599
John's, Iona.
00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:47.680
Duquesne would come in later.
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:52.319
Wagner, I don't think we used to play Wagner every year, but they didn't, I don't think they ever came into it.
00:28:52.880 --> 00:29:00.799
And um we were heading into our last game and we're undefeated in the conference, and we're playing our arch rival.
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:01.279
St.
00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:02.400
John's was like St.
00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:07.359
John's Iona was at that time was like Nourishell, Iona Prep, Rye Harrison.
00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:07.759
So St.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:08.480
John's Iona.
00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:09.599
You guys hated each other.
00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:09.920
Right.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:12.640
And they were either undefeated or one loss.
00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:17.920
I know whoever won the game was going to be the the conference champion in the inaugural max season.
00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:18.400
Okay.
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:25.680
And to make it even a bigger deal, the previous nine or ten or eleven years, we had lost to them.
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.839
We hadn't beaten them in nine or ten years.
00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:32.160
And the previous two or three years, the way I own had lost to St.
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:39.839
John's was like heartbreaking, like last-minute field goal, uh, you know, a two-point conversion, a block, and they weren't blowouts.
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:46.799
I think one year was when they first put the rule in in college where if you kick an extra point and a block it, you could return it for two points.
00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:49.039
And I think that's how I lost on one of those?
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:49.519
I think so.
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:58.799
I you can you can fact-check me on that, but I believe it was like the first year they instituted that rule where you could return a blocked extra point, you get two points, and I think that was the difference in the game.
00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:00.000
So you guys basically cursed.
00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:01.440
I mean, John, how you guys cursed?
00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:02.319
Right, right.
00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:08.400
So, and everybody on the roster, I was this is my first year coming in and playing.
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:11.200
They had suffered these heartbreaking defeats.
00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:12.880
I hadn't experienced it yet.
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:17.519
As a freshman, well, as a freshman, we did a we lost a tough game to them too.
00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:25.839
So it was our big rival, long story short, is really your first game as a starter, your first season as a starter, yeah, is is is what we're talking about right now.
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:26.319
Yes.
00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:26.720
Okay.
00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:32.960
My sophomore year, last game of the year, whoever wins wins the uh wins the MAC conference championship.
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:37.680
So okay, the first ever MAC conference championship is on the line, beginning of the season.
00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:41.279
It's the first season that you're starting as the quarterback the entire season.
00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:41.680
Yes.
00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:43.119
All that weight on your shoulders.
00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:43.519
Right.
00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:48.079
And now here we're stories I've been hearing from like the seniors and juniors.
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:48.799
Oh my God, St.
00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:49.839
John's, we got to beat St.
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:50.400
John's.
00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:52.480
You know, in the beginning of the year, what are your goals?
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:53.759
Everybody's, you know, beat St.
00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:54.000
John's.
00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:54.480
Beat St.
00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:54.720
John's.
00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:56.000
Not win the Mac, it was like beat St.
00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:56.240
John's.
00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:56.559
We don't care.
00:30:56.720 --> 00:30:57.039
Beat St.
00:30:57.119 --> 00:30:58.000
John's, then win the Mac.
00:30:58.240 --> 00:30:58.400
Right.
00:30:58.720 --> 00:30:59.920
And we pulled it off.
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:01.599
I had a very good game down there.
00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:03.200
We had a good night, it was a good night.
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:04.240
So you're playing at St.
00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:04.559
John's?
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:04.960
At St.
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:05.680
John's down there, yeah.
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:05.839
All right.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:06.960
So you're Friday night, too.
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:08.559
It was an away game Friday night.
00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:09.519
Friday night on Union Turn.
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:10.079
You're only a sophomore.
00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:10.960
Union Turnpike, right?
00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:11.839
I think it's Union Turnpike.
00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:12.319
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:12.720
You think so?
00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:13.039
That yeah.
00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:13.200
Yeah.
00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:14.319
Right on Union Turnpike.
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:15.359
You're only a sophomore.
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:15.680
Yes.
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:19.519
Uh and not only is this the first time they win the this is the first time there's a Mac championship.
00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:19.920
Yes.
00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:20.319
Yeah.
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:21.440
So it's the first one.
00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:23.440
So this is your chance to be legendary.
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:27.279
Last game of the year, whoever wins, and uh we had a great night.
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:28.079
A great night.
00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:33.680
We won 40, I want to say 42, the 31.
00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:35.359
It was the 40s to the 30s.
00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:37.119
How many touchdowns did you throw?
00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:40.000
That night, uh, three or four.
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:50.880
What's funny, the one thing I do remember, I had a really good game, you know, 30, 30 something for 40 something, three or four hundred yards, four, three or four touchdown passes.
00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:56.000
But one of the things that bothers me about that game is I threw an interception in the end zone.
00:31:56.319 --> 00:31:58.640
You okay that still bothers me to this day.
00:31:59.039 --> 00:31:59.839
I think about that.
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:00.400
Of course.
00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.160
Like we won the game, won the championship, beat St.
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:06.079
John's, got, you know, we finally got over that hump beating him, had a really good night.
00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:08.319
But I think about that interception I threw.
00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:09.839
You you break the curse.
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:11.599
You're the first ever champion.
00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:15.519
And yes, the interception, especially because interception in the end zone.
00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:16.160
Terrible.
00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:17.440
Take points off the board.
00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:18.000
Terrible.
00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:18.559
Horrible.
00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:20.079
Terrible pass, terrible play.
00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:20.799
All my fault.
00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:21.440
It was unfortunate.
00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:23.039
Was the game already in hand at that point?
00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:24.000
No, it was early on.
00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:32.240
I think it was like a maybe we were up 14-10 or it was 7-7, or it was close, and it was just a terrible play on my part.
00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:34.319
Terrible read, terrible pass.
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:35.839
All on me.
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:36.400
All right.
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:41.839
So listen, I think this is this is a great time to relive that moment.
00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:43.119
Here you are.
00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:46.240
You're only a sophomore in in college, okay?
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:52.640
Ironically, you played in big games because there's in high school, like today, you know, in high school we only have section championships.
00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:53.519
There's no turkey bowl.
00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:55.839
Turkey bowl is bigger than a section championship, as we talked about.
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:56.720
At the time, yes.
00:32:56.960 --> 00:32:57.039
Right.
00:32:57.119 --> 00:32:58.640
You played in big games.
00:32:58.880 --> 00:33:00.079
Here you are a sophomore.
00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:01.599
It's your first starting season.
00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:03.440
You're now in the MAC conference.
00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:05.039
You have this St.
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:08.559
John's pressure, okay, which is a real thing.
00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:09.759
You guys haven't beaten them.
00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:10.880
You keep losing to them.
00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:13.920
You've experienced that loss as being on the team as a freshman.
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:15.359
As a freshman.
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:16.880
You're in the game.
00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:20.799
You you have a chance to be the first champions, you have a chance to break this curse.
00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:22.880
You're winning the game by four points.
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:28.640
And then you throw this interception, a crossing interception in the end zone, taking points off the board.
00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:29.200
Okay.
00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:33.920
How did you recover from that moment to then win the game?
00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:35.359
It's a great question.
00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:47.440
I I think you have because of the support of my teammates and the coaching staff throughout the year, where look, I had a really good career, I had a really good year that year, but there were moments early on in that season where they could have gone a different direction.
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:48.480
There were.
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:53.119
Like I had some bad games in the middle there where they could have benched me and went to a different direction.
00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:53.920
They didn't.
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:55.039
So that's huge.
00:33:55.359 --> 00:34:02.000
When your coach believes in you and you know they have the confidence of you, and you know your teammates are patting your back, don't worry, Tom, we'll get it back.
00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:06.079
I think that's probably why I knew that, okay, everything's gonna be okay.
00:34:06.160 --> 00:34:10.880
I've been in this position before, but I know my coaching staff and my my teammates believe in me.
00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:13.119
And that's that's huge, especially at that age.
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:15.199
You know, you're only I'm 19, 20 years old.
00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:16.159
You're still a boy.
00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:16.559
Correct.
00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:17.280
You're still a boy.
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:19.599
The frontal lobe's not fully evolved.
00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:24.639
Um, but just knowing that I, and you know, that's you know, that's week 10 or 11 at that point.
00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:33.280
And like I said, you know, I had I had some rough moments during the year at times where they could they could have easily and you know benched me and gone a different direction.
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:34.159
They didn't.
00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:37.519
And uh, you know, your team could turn on you, but they didn't.
00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:38.159
They supported me.
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:40.320
They, you know, they pat you on the back, you know, we believe in you.
00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:48.800
And I think that was a huge part to why I was able to overcome that and still take the team and lead them, lead them to a victory.
00:34:49.119 --> 00:35:14.639
So a lot of people that I interview, you know, we just we interviewed a couple of professional lacrosse players recently, they all have a very interesting story because at some point in their life, some adults, some coach or father or mother just tapped them on the shoulder and gave them some words of confidence, words of encouragement that gave them the confidence to be such great athletes.
00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:32.400
So when you were a kid, was there any moment in time that you could think of that someone tapped you and said some things that in the moment you needed it that just gave you this insane confidence that you eventually had to have, you know, to win a Mac championship and and be as successful as a college football quarterback as you are?
00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:36.159
Um I I'd say it um it started in the home.
00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:42.960
My parents always instilled a tremendous amount of confidence in me at a young age.
00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:48.000
Always made me feel I could overcome anything.
00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:50.079
Always very supportive.
00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:51.760
They always built me up.
00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:56.559
And I got you can't do anything in life if you don't have self-confidence.
00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:57.840
It's it's imperative.
00:35:58.400 --> 00:35:58.639
Agreed.
00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:00.079
It's not easy though.
00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:08.159
No, it's not easy, but you know, a lot of it starts in the home, and my parents really instilled they they they always thought I was the greatest at everything.
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:12.480
They were they were very always patched on the back, always positive.
00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:15.920
Even if I played poorly, they'd still think of something.
00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:19.360
They look at that glass half old and find something positive to say.
00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:21.679
I they they helped me believe in myself.
00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:24.239
Which is fascinating because they're they're baby boomers.
00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:30.559
Yeah, coming out of that baby boom generation, usually you you instill confidence by force.
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:37.440
You know, you you instill that confidence of like, okay, you know, shake it off, be a man, get back out there.
00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:43.199
Uh words of encouragement didn't come often for kids like us coming out of the baby boomer generation.
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:43.519
True.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:47.599
Because obviously their their parents, you know, as parents, you try to do the best you can bringing it down.
00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:51.760
But as their parents didn't know how to words of affirmation or words of encouragement.
00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:54.159
Immigrants parents too came over with not a lot.
00:36:54.400 --> 00:36:55.760
Absolutely, come over not a lot.
00:36:55.920 --> 00:37:04.880
And then if you depending on when you came over, all of a sudden you came over and before as you're just settling in, now you got to ship back over to maybe your home country to fight to defend the world.
00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:12.800
So to have parents that that gave you those words of encouragement versus just the iron fist is uh I mean, yeah, you were really lucky for that.
00:37:13.039 --> 00:37:16.239
Yeah, parents definitely huge piece, huge part of it.
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:29.199
And I I I don't want to sing out single out any coach because all the coaches I always had, they always seemed to be very positive influences and not just me, for all of us, they built up our confidence.
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:32.480
I just really you know tribute to them.
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:38.000
I don't want to single one out because I had several, you know, but they they really helped build the confidence in me.
00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:45.119
Well, listen, I'm gonna single you out now because this show is is about you here on on the locked in uh winning moments show.
00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:47.519
You're a coach now, okay?
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:49.679
You actually uh coach multiple sports.
00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:55.679
So you're the assistant coach uh for Rye football uh and the head coach for Rye basketball.
00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:56.239
Yes.
00:37:56.400 --> 00:38:12.079
Uh if no one's ever seen the winning moments, or or all those who this is the first time uh seeing locked in and seeing you here, then they should know that you guys at Rye had probably one of the most incredible seasons of any high school.
00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:18.480
I think between you and you and Marinak, you guys were like uh Lay's potato chips versus Doritos.
00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:20.480
I mean, you guys are just pumping out chips.
00:38:20.559 --> 00:38:37.360
Uh I think you guys have nine or ten chips that you have this this championship season, but you're part of, and I want to talk about the whole year for you, but you're part of one of the best football seasons that that Rye's had in a long time.
00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:48.320
Okay, so as the assistant football coach and your Rye football team now go into the dome, as you mentioned, uh the infamous and famous dome uh up in Syracuse.
00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:51.360
How did you get into coaching, first of all?
00:38:51.840 --> 00:39:06.159
I got into coaching through well, I had the uh the uh college football career, and when I graduated, uh my head coach at Iona College was actually a phys ed teacher and a coach.
00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:08.719
He was a phys ed teacher in Nourashell for many years.
00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:14.719
He was actually the Nourashell football coach, late 70s, mid-80s before he went to Iona.
00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:22.960
So him and then I had a couple of other coaches who I still maintained good relationships with in college.
00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:27.440
They all said to me, you know, you should get into coach.
00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:28.239
I never thought about it.
00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:32.880
You should become a teacher, get into coaching, and um it'd be great.
00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:39.280
But I I I didn't want to, to be honest with you, I didn't want to go to rewind.
00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:41.840
I I said, okay, what does that entail?
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:43.199
Yeah, the famous question for me.
00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:44.000
What does that entail?
00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:44.960
You should be a doctor.
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:45.840
What does that entail?
00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:46.239
Right.
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:48.880
Well, you gotta go to school for a couple more years.
00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:55.199
And at 22, 23, you know, I just went to college for five years because I did the red shirt.
00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:55.679
Okay.
00:39:55.840 --> 00:40:01.679
So the thought of I'm just being honest, the thought of going to school for another two or three years, like, I don't know.
00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:05.199
And my brother actually was working on Wall Street.
00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:13.199
He was working for a brokerage firm, and I was, I was seeing, he was older than me, and I saw like the last couple years of college how much money he was making.
00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:16.400
So yeah, so yeah, it's it's you got you got the double-edged soul.
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:19.840
My brother's telling me as I'm getting ready to graduate, you know, you could you could come work with us.
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:20.239
Sure.
00:40:20.400 --> 00:40:29.119
So I'm like, school for three or more years, or I see the paychecks he's bringing home, the uh the uh opportunity to make unlimited amount of money on Wall Street.
00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:31.840
I'm like, so I went to Wall Street.
00:40:32.239 --> 00:40:34.159
It's like that famous scene of Wolf Wall Street.
00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:38.480
You show me a check right now for$6,000 and I quit my job right here, right now.
00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:44.159
So I and long story short, with that, ended up working on Wall Street for about 10 years.
00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:52.719
Then left there because I essentially I got replaced by you know human um black box trading technology.
00:40:52.880 --> 00:40:53.599
I got replaced.
00:40:53.679 --> 00:40:56.639
There used to be 1,200 human bodies on the floor in New York Stock Exchange.
00:40:56.719 --> 00:40:57.760
Now I don't even know if there's any.
00:40:57.840 --> 00:41:00.559
It's all technology, all computerized, which is fine.
00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:01.840
So I became obsolete.
00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:02.320
That's okay.
00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:04.320
It's just like easy pass.
00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:05.599
There's no more toll taker, right?
00:41:05.679 --> 00:41:06.400
Right, no more tolls?
00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:06.960
No more dropping.
00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:10.480
I go to Stop and Shop or the Chico's or uh Acme.
00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:11.920
You check out yourself, right?
00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:12.239
There's a lot of people.
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:14.719
By the way, I was a phenomenal toll basketball player.
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:17.039
My dad back in the back seat to toll all the hooks.
00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:19.199
Coming over, coming over the back side, yeah.
00:41:20.960 --> 00:41:22.480
So man, we're old.
00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:30.000
Yeah, so Wall Street, I got replaced by machines and computers, and I guess I wasn't smart enough to do anything else in that industry, but that's okay.
00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:37.679
Um so around that time, my father got sick, and my my family for over a hundred years has been in the oriental rug business.
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:40.480
My dad's my dad's family immigrated from Armenia.
00:41:40.559 --> 00:41:43.840
I'm half Armenian, and a lot of Armenians actually are in the rug business.
00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:44.400
Sure.
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:55.679
And um, so he was getting sick, the the Wall Street thing's falling apart, and he he he had his own business, so I took over his business and ran that for a few years.
00:41:56.159 --> 00:42:01.199
You know, all all during the end of Wall Street, the beginning of the rug business, I get married, I start having kids.
00:42:01.280 --> 00:42:08.159
Now I got three kids, and now I'm self-employed, but it's not the same business it was when my dad was running it when he was younger.
00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:10.639
I needed to get something more steady.
00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:14.639
You know, health insurance, you got kids now, you know, steady income.
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:26.159
You know, Wall Street, you know, good months, bad months, rug business, there's you know, paycheck every two weeks, health insurance, you know, a little more stable, wife, kids.
00:42:26.480 --> 00:42:26.719
Exactly.
00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:28.320
So your more responsibilities.
00:42:28.559 --> 00:42:28.960
Correct.
00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:30.239
You know, time to grow up.
00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:32.320
Time time time to grow time to grow up.
00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:33.920
Time to grow up, stop chasing the dream.
00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:56.559
So then you get you go back to school, do you go back to the master's, go back to school, and I got uh a job in the DOE, New York New York City Department of Education, and I knew um the athletic director at Rye at the time was actually um Rob Costagna, who um eventually went to uh Byron Hills to be the AD there for the last 10 years.
00:42:56.719 --> 00:43:00.400
He had coached, he was one of my coaches I own to college, and he's a Nourish Hill graduate.
00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:00.880
Okay.
00:43:01.440 --> 00:43:01.920
Right.
00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:06.159
So he said we have a few openings here to coach football.
00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:06.880
It'd be great.
00:43:07.039 --> 00:43:13.760
You should you should take a job coaching anything in Westchester if you're in the city because it'll help you you know get a job.
00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:14.480
Get up there, yeah.
00:43:14.639 --> 00:43:18.960
Get a job in Westchester is always the ultimate goal to get a phys ed job there.
00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:32.719
So he he he uh hired me at Rye, and then uh short while after that, a good friend of mine was the head basketball coach at Scarsdale, and then he uh hired me to help him uh coach at Scarsdale.
00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:38.239
So then I basically got a teaching job and two coaching jobs all within like three months.
00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:41.360
It's crazy how I tell I tell my kids all the time, like still.
00:43:41.519 --> 00:43:42.960
It's who you know, it's who you know.
00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:45.119
But it's to me's network and whole thing.
00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:45.519
Right.
00:43:45.920 --> 00:43:48.719
But the the bond you build in sports, yeah, right.
00:43:48.800 --> 00:43:54.239
You know, Claudia and I talk about the brotherhood, the bond you build in sports is like no other.
00:43:54.480 --> 00:43:54.800
Right.
00:43:55.039 --> 00:43:59.679
So the idea of just like you're talking about it, like the guy who hired me or the guy who called me.
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:04.400
To come be a coach, also was a coach that saw me play and knew who I was.
00:44:04.559 --> 00:44:07.360
And it just comes around because they see you as a player.
00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:11.280
Not only were you a phenomenal athlete, but you also were a good kid.
00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:16.800
They had to feel the same way and then had the character to trust you enough to say, hey, come coach these kids.
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:17.039
Right.
00:44:17.199 --> 00:44:18.079
Because it's a big difference.
00:44:18.159 --> 00:44:20.880
Not everybody can translate from playing to coaching.
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:21.599
Very difficult.
00:44:21.840 --> 00:44:25.840
Completely, completely different culture, different patience, different everything.
00:44:26.159 --> 00:44:31.840
And then you know, depending on what town you go to in Westchester, it's completely different politically.
00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:32.239
Yeah.
00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:38.880
So like they're just you're dealing with parents that in New York City, you don't have to deal with it the same way.
00:44:39.039 --> 00:44:39.360
No.
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:41.039
So it's it's it's a lot.
00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:41.440
Yeah.
00:44:41.840 --> 00:44:43.760
The networking thing is huge, big piece.
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:46.960
And they like the football is any any sport you play, it's like a fraternity.
00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:51.119
And you you know you develop those bonds, those relationships you have them for the rest of your life.
00:44:51.440 --> 00:44:56.079
It could be any sport, golf, tennis, soccer, you know, baseball, like playing that sport.
00:44:56.400 --> 00:45:01.519
Um, you develop those relationships and they they they pay dividends for me, thank, thankfully.
00:45:01.599 --> 00:45:01.760
Yeah.
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:02.239
Down the road.
00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:07.519
Golf we call an activity here in in locked in, but it's still uh it's still technically a sport.
00:45:07.599 --> 00:45:07.840
No.
00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:08.719
Uh just kidding.
00:45:08.800 --> 00:45:14.480
You need to be really locked in to be good at golf, which is it's just tough, toughest mental sport I think that exists big time.
00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:15.039
All right.
00:45:15.119 --> 00:45:16.239
So now now here we are.
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:17.280
We're here in Rye.
00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:18.239
Okay.
00:45:18.800 --> 00:45:24.880
In all of your coaching career, did you ever have a a I mean coach multiple sports?
00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:29.360
Did you ever have a season, a senior class or a season that you've had this year?
00:45:29.840 --> 00:45:30.159
No.
00:45:30.639 --> 00:45:30.880
No.
00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:50.480
You know, it's like you said, it started with football, you know, the great Dean O'Gar, head of the program, legend at Rye, combined with, you know, the shoemakers and the millers of the world, and and so many others, Nigel Shazini, um, Sebastian Lewis, um, so many others.
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:51.599
I don't want to leave anybody out.
00:45:51.679 --> 00:45:53.840
It was a great team, great supporting cast.
00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:57.039
And then, you know, basketball, same deal.
00:45:57.760 --> 00:46:02.239
Community's behind us, the parents are great, administration's great, athletic director.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.599
I mean, it's it's it's the whole package in Rye.
00:46:05.679 --> 00:46:06.159
It's unbelievable.
00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:07.840
So it's funny, I want to ask you that question.
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:35.599
Yesterday I was with uh my son Sebastian, he dates a senior at Rye, and uh I was talking to her dad, Lewis, and we were talking about there's been a recent conversation in Westchester, in section one, so Westchester, Rock, and Putnam, has there ever been two athletes that have played together that have had as much success as Miller and Shoemaker?
00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:39.679
Okay, Carson Miller and Henry Shoemaker, has there been two athletes that have that much success?
00:46:39.920 --> 00:46:44.320
And during the barbecues, they talked about New Rochelle, you know, the Ray Rice years, right?
00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:45.280
Uh McDermott.
00:46:45.519 --> 00:46:46.000
Yep, yep.
00:46:46.719 --> 00:46:52.960
Now, those two are better athletes, okay, than than Carson and Henry.
00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:54.800
I think they only played two sports, though, I think.
00:46:55.039 --> 00:46:55.360
That's right.
00:46:56.159 --> 00:46:57.199
They didn't play all the sports.
00:46:57.679 --> 00:46:58.800
I don't know if they played the spring sport.
00:46:58.880 --> 00:46:59.119
I couldn't play.
00:46:59.360 --> 00:47:00.480
And they didn't play together.
00:47:00.639 --> 00:47:05.840
Uh uh, they played basketball and football, they didn't play the spring sport, or one might have played spring, but not together.
00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:06.159
Right.
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:07.840
They didn't have the same success.
00:47:08.079 --> 00:47:17.519
I couldn't think of two athletes that just together, those two, and granted they're all team sports they played on, but just had so much success.
00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:20.880
I mean, you're the football, okay, state champs in football.
00:47:21.039 --> 00:47:21.440
Yes.
00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:24.559
Then these kids come in, and now you're the head coach of basketball.
00:47:24.719 --> 00:47:29.679
You guys win the section in basketball, and then these two young guys just dominate lacrosse.
00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:30.480
Yeah.
00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:33.039
I mean, it's a phenomenon.
00:47:33.119 --> 00:47:35.360
This the senior class we've had in section one is phenomenal.
00:47:35.440 --> 00:47:37.039
But the senior class you guys had in Rye.
00:47:37.199 --> 00:47:40.239
So Lewis asked me, John, I don't know what it is.
00:47:40.400 --> 00:47:42.079
What do you think it is about Rye?
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:45.519
Especially in a time when we talk about like prep schools.
00:47:45.679 --> 00:47:50.320
Prep schools always had the ability, not I own a prep because it's more of a Catholic school, but real prep schools.
00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:53.679
So your Brunswick's, uh, your Rye Country days, they got a ton of money.
00:47:53.760 --> 00:47:56.079
They're recruiting like crazy to get people on.
00:47:56.159 --> 00:47:57.599
They offer kids so much stuff.
00:47:57.840 --> 00:47:59.119
And we lose a lot of athletes.
00:47:59.280 --> 00:48:00.079
We lose a lot of athletes.
00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:04.480
I own a prep basketball, had two or three kids on their team who are from Rye.
00:48:04.559 --> 00:48:04.719
Yeah.
00:48:04.880 --> 00:48:13.280
But what Lewis was saying, what I was saying, is that you guys don't typically lose athletes, and there's something about Rye, and I told him I think it's this way.
00:48:13.360 --> 00:48:14.400
I think it's the community.
00:48:14.480 --> 00:48:14.639
Yes.
00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:16.559
Uh the school itself.
00:48:16.719 --> 00:48:20.320
Like it's a it's a great school to go to, but the community supports it.
00:48:20.639 --> 00:48:20.960
Huge.
00:48:21.199 --> 00:48:28.559
Because typically in a Catholic school, like in a Stepanek or an Iona, or then if you go to the prep schools, their community is tight-niche.
00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:29.920
They actually have alumni.
00:48:30.159 --> 00:48:30.320
Yes.
00:48:30.480 --> 00:48:30.639
Right?
00:48:30.719 --> 00:48:33.360
There's really no like rye alumni that comes out as much.
00:48:33.599 --> 00:48:34.559
High school doesn't have alumni.
00:48:34.719 --> 00:48:34.800
Right.
00:48:34.960 --> 00:48:36.079
But the Catholic schools have alumni.
00:48:37.039 --> 00:48:37.679
Yeah, like college, right?
00:48:38.159 --> 00:48:38.480
Private schools.
00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:44.400
So they have those private schools have great community-based around their sports.
00:48:44.639 --> 00:48:50.239
Uh what is it do you think that is is makes Rye so successful that not so many kids leave?
00:48:50.320 --> 00:48:51.280
I believe you touched on it.
00:48:51.360 --> 00:48:54.320
I think it's a it's a combination of many factors.
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:57.920
Um, community and the parents are awesome.
00:48:58.159 --> 00:49:00.480
All they want to do is help and support us.
00:49:00.639 --> 00:49:03.840
Every team I've been involved with, the parents are phenomenal.
00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:05.840
All they want to do is help.
00:49:06.079 --> 00:49:07.840
And they want the best for Rye.
00:49:08.159 --> 00:49:10.320
They don't want the best for the kid, they want the best for Rye.
00:49:10.480 --> 00:49:12.159
What's best for the program of the kid?
00:49:12.320 --> 00:49:14.880
Anything you need, what can we do to support you and help you?
00:49:15.039 --> 00:49:15.519
Phenomenal.
00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:20.000
Athletic director, same way, Susan Reed, phenomenal.
00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:22.880
Superintendent, assistant superintendent, all of them.
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:24.159
All bought all bought in.
00:49:24.239 --> 00:49:26.480
They all support us, they come to all of our games.
00:49:26.639 --> 00:49:27.840
Tremendous support.
00:49:28.079 --> 00:49:29.920
They just want to help and support us.
00:49:30.400 --> 00:49:32.880
Principal, principal of high school, principal Harrow, phenomenal.
00:49:33.199 --> 00:49:34.960
Comes to all the games, goes to all the games.
00:49:35.280 --> 00:49:37.039
Like I said, Susan Reed, the AD.
00:49:37.360 --> 00:49:41.760
They just they're there to support you and help you, and they're tall, they're all in.
00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:42.880
They're all in.
00:49:43.360 --> 00:49:47.119
Then look, you need the you need the Johnnies and Joes, right?
00:49:47.280 --> 00:49:47.519
Right.
00:49:47.599 --> 00:49:47.840
Right?
00:49:48.400 --> 00:49:54.320
You could be John Wooden, you could be Vince Lombardi if you don't have the players, you can't, you won't be successful.
00:49:54.960 --> 00:50:06.000
There are so many um so many uh athletes, student athletes at Rye, whose parents were athletes themselves at at in collegiate level who were successful.
00:50:06.320 --> 00:50:06.480
Right.
00:50:06.559 --> 00:50:09.760
Isn't wasn't uh was it was it Henry's dad that played?
00:50:10.159 --> 00:50:13.679
I believe Schumacher's dad was um he was on a couple of l rosters.
00:50:13.840 --> 00:50:16.639
Right, played for Cincinnati, I think, or something of that is so yeah.
00:50:17.199 --> 00:50:21.679
Um so you need that.
00:50:21.840 --> 00:50:37.519
And then even if their parents, you know, didn't play collegially, they were they they are willing to give their their children anything they need to be successful, whether it's you know training, equipment, uh on teams.
00:50:38.079 --> 00:50:47.519
It's just it's a it's a whole yeah, and I believe that there are many factors, and that's why you you end up with uh the teams we have.
00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:50.800
It's uh it's a total team effort, if you will.
00:50:51.199 --> 00:50:53.760
So you've coached for a lot of years and and different sports.
00:50:54.559 --> 00:50:56.639
Is this year your favorite year of coaching?
00:50:59.440 --> 00:51:14.400
Uh you don't want to pick a year because uh all through the years I you've it's about coaching the student athlete, and I have so many good relationships with so many uh student athletes that I coached in the past.
00:51:14.800 --> 00:51:29.760
But I mean, it probably is my favorite year because how successful successful we were, but that's not to diminish what we accomplished in the other years because I there were so many student athletes I was able to coach that I still to this day have relationships with from eight years ago, five years ago, seven years ago, ten years ago.
00:51:30.159 --> 00:51:32.079
So is it fair to say that it's your most memorable year?
00:51:32.400 --> 00:51:33.679
Yeah, that's probably a better way to put it.
00:51:33.840 --> 00:51:41.119
Because I I don't want to, like I said, I don't want to diminish other seasons because we weren't as successful with other student athletes.
00:51:41.440 --> 00:51:43.840
But most memorable is a great way to put it, yes.
00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:44.079
Yeah.
00:51:44.159 --> 00:51:53.920
I mean, let's say especially because then I beg I was a head coach and and I was I was able to win a a section championship as a head coach, whereas as a football coach, I'm I'm I'm an assistant coach.
00:51:54.079 --> 00:51:55.840
So I like how you discount that.
00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:56.800
I'm just the assistant coach.
00:51:56.880 --> 00:52:00.800
Where football, the assistant coach is is extremely important in in that case.
00:52:00.960 --> 00:52:03.360
Actually, I think basketball the assistant coach is very important, too.
00:52:03.440 --> 00:52:05.760
Yeah, very important, especially for in-game coaching.
00:52:05.920 --> 00:52:06.159
Yeah.
00:52:06.320 --> 00:52:06.960
It's so hard.
00:52:07.119 --> 00:52:12.639
I see where a lot of teams I see lose is the in-game in-game coaching is where you lose the game.
00:52:12.800 --> 00:52:25.840
And primarily, you blame the head coach for that, but if anyone who's ever coached a basketball game knows that when you're in the game coaching, if you don't have someone there to tap you to give you some of the information that's created you can't see, it's critical.
00:52:26.159 --> 00:52:27.119
You can't be a good in-game coach.
00:52:27.519 --> 00:52:34.239
Who you are there are those little those little things that you're not going to remember that you can have them written down on that piece of paper.
00:52:34.400 --> 00:52:36.880
We all go to that piece of paper, we all go to it.
00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:40.800
We have not, and sometimes the handwriting's too small, you're, you know, with eyesight's going.
00:52:41.280 --> 00:52:46.400
There's so many things there, and and you don't have a lot of time to read it because things are going on.
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:51.440
And it just could be like, hey, you you you said you wanted to get him in the game.
00:52:51.519 --> 00:52:58.000
Hey, that mismatch that you thought was gonna happen this happened, and it it could be a little piece of information that makes a difference.
00:52:58.079 --> 00:53:05.119
Or I mean you want to use a timeout here, uh, you only have one timeout left, or hey, so-and-so's been on the bench for a while, you want to get him back.
00:53:05.280 --> 00:53:08.719
Like, you can't, I don't care who you are, you the things you're not gonna remember.
00:53:08.960 --> 00:53:22.719
And um my assistant coach is co uh Tommy Codespodi, who's my assistant on varsity, uh AJ Thompson and his father actually is the Jimmy Thompson's the uh assistant coach on JV, and AJ's the head coach.
00:53:22.880 --> 00:53:27.599
AJ played for Rye, basketball, football, and they all do a great job.
00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:31.360
Just I was just just throwing those little things in my ear.
00:53:31.519 --> 00:53:37.519
You may look, there's a lot of things that they do say that washes over, yeah, comes right over the head.
00:53:37.760 --> 00:53:39.519
But I rather hear it than not hear it.
00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:39.920
Right.
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:42.079
Give me the information, let me decide on on what it is.
00:53:42.320 --> 00:53:42.559
Right.
00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:45.599
Uh I'll I'll discern it and make sure that I I use it.
00:53:45.679 --> 00:53:47.119
Uh but if you don't have it, you can't use it.
00:53:47.199 --> 00:53:47.840
So what do you do?
00:53:48.079 --> 00:53:48.400
Exactly.
00:53:48.719 --> 00:53:50.880
Like I drive Dino crazy.
00:53:52.079 --> 00:53:53.360
He'll tell you, I drive him crazy.
00:53:53.440 --> 00:53:57.599
But I that's why I say I say I'd rather tell you this than I not tell you.
00:53:57.760 --> 00:53:59.599
And after the game is why the heck didn't you tell me?
00:53:59.840 --> 00:54:00.159
Right, right.
00:54:00.239 --> 00:54:02.639
Well you listen, you drove him crazy enough to win a state championship.
00:54:02.960 --> 00:54:03.920
I drove I drive him nuts.
00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:04.159
Yeah.
00:54:04.320 --> 00:54:04.880
I drive him nuts.
00:54:05.119 --> 00:54:06.320
I'm sure he doesn't mind when you guys are.
00:54:06.639 --> 00:54:07.039
He's a good sport.
00:54:07.119 --> 00:54:07.519
He comes in.
00:54:07.760 --> 00:54:08.320
He takes it out.
00:54:08.719 --> 00:54:12.000
Because I'm in his ear upstairs, so I'm constantly badgering him.
00:54:12.320 --> 00:54:16.320
Yeah, I mean, listen, as a football coach, it's head coach is different because you're right.
00:54:16.559 --> 00:54:19.199
You're you're in the ear in that side of the page.
00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:20.239
Yeah, the headphones, isn't it?
00:54:20.639 --> 00:54:21.360
I don't have headphones.
00:54:21.599 --> 00:54:22.639
I'm I'm happy actually.
00:54:22.719 --> 00:54:23.519
I don't have a headphones.
00:54:23.679 --> 00:54:25.039
I don't have a me in my ear.
00:54:25.280 --> 00:54:25.760
In your ear.
00:54:25.840 --> 00:54:25.920
Yeah.
00:54:26.159 --> 00:54:27.199
I don't have a me in my ear.
00:54:27.519 --> 00:54:28.400
I'm happy about that.
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:31.199
I don't need a me in my ear while I'm coaching basketball.
00:54:31.360 --> 00:54:32.639
Just just remember that, Dino.
00:54:32.800 --> 00:54:32.960
Okay.
00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:40.719
Dino always says to me, he goes, you know, I want to come to one, I want to come to I want to be in your ear, like you're in my ear to one of your basketball games.
00:54:40.800 --> 00:54:42.400
But he does do the clock at the games.
00:54:42.639 --> 00:54:42.880
Okay.
00:54:43.039 --> 00:54:44.639
At the best at home, so he's close enough.
00:54:45.119 --> 00:54:49.920
Listen, we should, we should we we we should mic it mic you guys up one day, okay, and put them in your ear.
00:54:50.079 --> 00:54:52.480
So Dino can have uh the Dino revenge.
00:54:52.719 --> 00:54:53.119
It's it's fine.
00:54:53.280 --> 00:54:56.159
All right, because he's really saying, I want to be in your ear the way you're in my ear.
00:54:56.239 --> 00:54:57.920
I'm like, no, no, not gonna happen.
00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:00.639
You're just gonna say, Dino, listen, man, I'm I'm happy to do it.
00:55:00.800 --> 00:55:06.639
As long as you can guarantee me a state championship, okay, the way that I did for you, you do for me, I'll put you in the air all day long.
00:55:06.719 --> 00:55:07.519
Don't worry about it.
00:55:07.679 --> 00:55:07.920
Okay.
00:55:08.719 --> 00:55:09.440
Exactly.
00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:13.920
So now, listen, it's it's it's a different, it's gonna be a different season for you guys.
00:55:14.079 --> 00:55:16.559
Uh totally different across the board.
00:55:16.639 --> 00:55:26.239
I mean, I feel like if we stay with section one, even though this moment's not about section one, but stay in section one and all the the seniors that we got to see.
00:55:26.480 --> 00:55:38.639
I mean, this senior class across the board in all sports, boys and girls, uh, Westchester Rockland, you know, Putnam County, Justice County, track and field, we got we got record breakers.
00:55:38.719 --> 00:55:42.320
I mean, it's been a record-breaking year for high school sports.
00:55:42.880 --> 00:55:43.679
It's amazing.
00:55:43.920 --> 00:55:44.639
It's it has been.
00:55:44.719 --> 00:55:46.000
It's gonna be hard to duplicate.
00:55:46.239 --> 00:55:46.559
Yeah.
00:55:46.639 --> 00:55:55.920
I don't know if it was like a and I'm I'm pretty sure that this senior class, I think, is the post-COVID class.
00:55:56.400 --> 00:56:01.599
Uh Right, because they're the they they were able to go as a freshman, they got back to the school.
00:56:01.760 --> 00:56:05.760
There was no homeschooling uh for middle school, right?
00:56:05.920 --> 00:56:07.360
Because that was 2021.
00:56:07.920 --> 00:56:08.079
Right.
00:56:08.239 --> 00:56:09.199
So they were just in middle school.
00:56:09.280 --> 00:56:10.400
So when they actually went to high school, they weren't.
00:56:10.719 --> 00:56:12.639
They were the first ones back to a full four year of high school.
00:56:12.880 --> 00:56:13.679
They went to high school for four years.
00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:14.480
Four years high school.
00:56:14.559 --> 00:56:15.920
Yeah, I mean they went to the building.
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:16.079
Yeah.
00:56:16.800 --> 00:56:18.400
Physically physically in the building for four years.
00:56:18.559 --> 00:56:18.719
Yeah.
00:56:18.880 --> 00:56:19.679
Which I think it helps.
00:56:19.920 --> 00:56:20.079
Yeah.
00:56:20.239 --> 00:56:21.599
Although listen, that definitely helps.
00:56:21.760 --> 00:56:21.920
Yeah.
00:56:22.079 --> 00:56:31.519
But I wonder if it's like, hey, the pent-up energy of being at home and not being traditional, because it it's a magical class across every sport, it's a magical class.
00:56:31.760 --> 00:56:32.639
I don't think we'll ever see that.
00:56:32.719 --> 00:56:36.639
I don't think we'll ever see something like this in in our lifetime in these sports.
00:56:37.039 --> 00:56:37.119
Yeah.
00:56:37.519 --> 00:56:39.280
It's fortunate we were we had part of it.
00:56:39.360 --> 00:56:44.480
And I guess it was great for you guys to start all your shows in this this season.
00:56:44.800 --> 00:56:46.239
Thank God, and thank God, and thank the universe.
00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:54.960
If you're ever going to start a show, high school sports, in this section one area of Westchester, Rockland Putnam, you couldn't manifest a a bigger year.
00:56:55.199 --> 00:56:55.360
No.
00:56:55.519 --> 00:56:55.679
No.
00:56:55.840 --> 00:56:59.199
I mean, even Stepanek, who's not part of Section One, but it's in Westchester.
00:56:59.440 --> 00:57:00.320
But I mean, look what they've done.
00:57:00.639 --> 00:57:06.480
Three never again do I think we'll see three uh McDonald's All-Americans on the same team.
00:57:06.639 --> 00:57:08.880
I mean they'll probably be playing in the NBA one day.
00:57:09.039 --> 00:57:09.199
Yeah.
00:57:09.440 --> 00:57:10.639
I don't think we'll ever see that again.
00:57:10.719 --> 00:57:10.880
No.
00:57:11.039 --> 00:57:11.280
Right?
00:57:11.519 --> 00:57:18.719
I don't think we'll we'll see a uh a Miller Shoemaker combo of two kids who are such good kids play together.
00:57:18.880 --> 00:57:25.199
Yeah, covered three sports with three successful sides and going to college for for one of the sports they played.
00:57:25.519 --> 00:57:26.639
Because you need the breaks too.
00:57:26.800 --> 00:57:31.920
You gotta be a little bit I mean, look, they're all phenomenal, everything, but you gotta things gotta fall your way too.
00:57:32.239 --> 00:57:50.880
Yeah, I mean, listen, uh I'm not gonna I'm not gonna bring it up so much uh uh for my boy Jake Pampolino, but uh you guys needed the breaks and uh you got the break in in the county center in that first half when basically I mean I if I came off your bench, okay, at 47 at the time, if I came off your bench that day, you would have made a couple of things.
00:57:50.960 --> 00:57:51.440
I would hit three threes.
00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:52.639
I would hit three threes.
00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:54.480
Okay, I'd be like Steph Curry off that bench.
00:57:54.639 --> 00:58:03.440
I don't know what you told those kids before that game or what they ate, but every kid who threw up a three, I mean, you had to be uh 90 percent in that first half.
00:58:03.679 --> 00:58:04.400
It was amazing.
00:58:04.559 --> 00:58:10.239
Yeah, I think we made eight, seven or eight out of like ten, yeah, or eleven.
00:58:10.639 --> 00:58:12.480
Eighty to ninety percent in those threes.
00:58:12.719 --> 00:58:16.960
There there's been plenty of games where we had some about eight for tens.
00:58:17.679 --> 00:58:18.159
Two for ten?
00:58:18.480 --> 00:58:24.400
We we played them on a Friday night at our place where they came in and they whipped us in January.
00:58:24.480 --> 00:58:25.679
They completely embarrassed us.
00:58:25.840 --> 00:58:26.159
Oh, yeah.
00:58:26.239 --> 00:58:27.199
Yeah, they get they gave you the business.
00:58:27.519 --> 00:58:30.719
And we were two for twenty-two from three-point range that night.
00:58:31.199 --> 00:58:34.480
So we were excited to To reverse it?
00:58:34.639 --> 00:58:36.239
Yeah, to reverse it when the time counts.
00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:40.639
Then again, against North, we couldn't throw it in the ocean in the first half either.
00:58:40.880 --> 00:58:46.639
And and uh um the the Clarkstown North kid um what was his name?
00:58:46.719 --> 00:58:48.079
He made all the three-pointers.
00:58:48.480 --> 00:58:50.159
Oh, why am I drinking a flashly?
00:58:50.320 --> 00:58:50.559
Yeah.
00:58:50.639 --> 00:58:51.920
Uh I know exactly what you're talking about.
00:58:52.079 --> 00:58:55.119
I I could see his three uh in in that in that game.
00:58:55.360 --> 00:58:58.239
He made seven or eight that night, and we couldn't make one.
00:58:58.320 --> 00:58:59.119
And you know what?
00:58:59.360 --> 00:59:02.960
So we found a way to hang in there and and survive that.
00:59:03.199 --> 00:59:05.119
I feel your playoff career this year was was that.
00:59:05.280 --> 00:59:07.199
Like I watched you guys, I was up at Horace Greeley.
00:59:07.599 --> 00:59:08.159
That was a great game.
00:59:08.400 --> 00:59:09.679
My friend plays there, yeah.
00:59:09.840 --> 00:59:12.079
Horace Greeley could have easily won the section too.
00:59:12.159 --> 00:59:14.239
They were one of the better teams in in our in our class.
00:59:14.480 --> 00:59:15.280
That that excellent.
00:59:15.599 --> 00:59:17.199
That game you guys were on you guys were on the ropes.
00:59:17.440 --> 00:59:19.440
Were we we jumped out, I thought we had them.
00:59:19.599 --> 00:59:20.079
Yeah.
00:59:20.239 --> 00:59:26.800
And then they made the run, I think we were up 15 or 16 in the third quarter or fourth quarter, and they came all the way back and came within a shot.
00:59:27.119 --> 00:59:28.000
Jackson Thomas.
00:59:28.079 --> 00:59:30.000
I uh great player, great night.
00:59:30.159 --> 00:59:41.920
He was at my house for the 4th of July, I was talking to his dad, and um we were just saying, because they played AAU for Chris Ward basketball together, and we were talking about playing basketball, and I was like, this man.
00:59:42.079 --> 00:59:44.079
He's like, I was, you know, it was a good year, this and that.
00:59:44.159 --> 00:59:58.000
I'm like, look, we've been sitting together for for a couple years watching these kids play, and all the frustration you have of Jack's not coming back on defense, something like that, his best game he ever had ended his high school career, but it was the best game he ever had.
00:59:58.079 --> 00:59:59.280
He left it all out on the court.
00:59:59.360 --> 01:00:01.440
Yeah, he almost beat the team that won the sections.
01:00:01.599 --> 01:00:05.039
I mean, if you guys won, he single-handedly was the reason for that.
01:00:05.199 --> 01:00:06.880
He's like, you know what, John?
01:00:07.119 --> 01:00:07.679
You're right.
01:00:07.760 --> 01:00:09.119
And I'm really proud of him.
01:00:09.440 --> 01:00:12.320
Why the hell did it take him so long to give you that proud moment?
01:00:13.679 --> 01:00:15.119
So leave the kid alone, okay?
01:00:15.280 --> 01:00:16.000
Leave the kid alone.
01:00:16.079 --> 01:00:17.679
He'll out shoot you right now, okay?
01:00:17.840 --> 01:00:18.880
Anytime you want.
01:00:19.119 --> 01:00:21.760
But yeah, that was, I mean, yeah, that was a great game.
01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:22.400
It was.
01:00:22.559 --> 01:00:22.800
It was.
01:00:22.960 --> 01:00:24.719
Yeah, he had a great night at Jackson.
01:00:24.880 --> 01:00:26.559
She, he was a really good player.
01:00:26.800 --> 01:00:29.679
Um Levi the Levi uh Oh, yeah.
01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:33.440
But they were the other, I don't want to forget their names.
01:00:33.679 --> 01:00:35.679
But yeah, you just you you just kept pulling it out, man.
01:00:35.760 --> 01:00:38.320
So it was it's a great I mean, congratulations.
01:00:38.719 --> 01:00:39.440
It was a great run.
01:00:39.679 --> 01:00:41.599
Uh great season, must have been a lot of fun.
01:00:41.840 --> 01:00:42.320
It was.
01:00:42.559 --> 01:00:45.360
So, Tom, tell me, what what's your favorite quote?
01:00:45.679 --> 01:00:50.719
My favorite quote is uh failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
01:00:52.000 --> 01:00:54.880
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
01:00:55.360 --> 01:00:56.400
I love that quote.
01:00:56.639 --> 01:01:01.679
Uh one of the NFL players that I got to I got to know, uh he's an old NFL player.
01:01:01.760 --> 01:01:04.480
Uh he's like, listen, John, you want to be successful in life?
01:01:04.800 --> 01:01:10.320
And this guy is like, right now he's gotta be a billionaire, maybe 750 million when I met him.
01:01:10.559 --> 01:01:12.880
And he's like, You gotta learn the five piece.
01:01:13.360 --> 01:01:15.360
Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
01:01:15.599 --> 01:01:16.159
Exactly.
01:01:16.480 --> 01:01:16.960
Five piece.
01:01:17.360 --> 01:01:17.679
Same thing.
01:01:17.920 --> 01:01:18.239
Same thing.
01:01:18.400 --> 01:01:19.039
The five piece.
01:01:19.440 --> 01:01:21.199
Anything in life you have to prepare for.
01:01:21.360 --> 01:01:21.519
Yeah.
01:01:21.679 --> 01:01:25.679
It could be a date with a girl or a boy or anything or preparation.
01:01:25.840 --> 01:01:26.239
Preparation.
01:01:26.480 --> 01:01:30.880
You gotta study for a test, you gotta study for a game, watch the film, uh, you know.
01:01:31.840 --> 01:01:34.480
It could be an interview, it could be this.
01:01:35.039 --> 01:01:35.840
Always gotta prepare.
01:01:36.239 --> 01:01:36.880
You gotta prepare.
01:01:37.039 --> 01:01:40.400
Because you don't want to get caught naked, you don't want to get caught unprepared.
01:01:40.639 --> 01:01:42.079
It's I we've all been there.
01:01:42.239 --> 01:01:50.639
The worst feeling in the world is not having an answer or being prepared for the unexpected or the something comes out of the left field.
01:01:50.719 --> 01:01:56.320
You you just feel you know vulnerable and weak, and it's it's not a good feeling.
01:01:56.639 --> 01:01:58.320
It's not, it's tough to recover.
01:01:58.800 --> 01:01:59.280
You don't.
01:01:59.840 --> 01:02:01.280
You don't recover, you remember it.
01:02:01.679 --> 01:02:02.880
I I completely agree with you.
01:02:03.360 --> 01:02:05.199
And so preparing.
01:02:05.440 --> 01:02:17.599
And then when you do prepare and it works out, it's it feels a little more rewarding because it it kind of it kind of um you know validates why you did put in that time and all that preparation.
01:02:17.920 --> 01:02:19.119
Right, the hard work pays off.
01:02:19.360 --> 01:02:19.679
Exactly.
01:02:19.760 --> 01:02:20.320
Yeah, yeah.
01:02:20.480 --> 01:02:20.880
Right.
01:02:21.199 --> 01:02:28.400
So is there anything you're working on right now that you want to share other than uh reigning champs?
01:02:28.800 --> 01:02:30.960
Trying to figure out how to repeat last year.
01:02:31.840 --> 01:02:33.440
It's like I said, reigning champs.
01:02:33.599 --> 01:02:36.880
Try to repeat, trying to figure out how you repeat last year.
01:02:37.280 --> 01:02:38.559
In in all the sports.
01:02:39.119 --> 01:02:42.719
Well, listen, man, you know, you know I'm a big fan, uh, and I appreciate you.
01:02:42.880 --> 01:02:43.119
Thank you.
01:02:43.360 --> 01:02:52.000
And I'm gonna tell you now that your uh your expectations of of trying to recreate what you already created last year, you might have to lower those a little bit from the memorable side.
01:02:52.400 --> 01:02:55.519
Uh, but hopefully you guys can can recreate going there.
01:02:55.679 --> 01:03:02.400
Um but yeah, I mean, I mean it's such it was such a fun thing to watch you guys uh this year and and see the joy.
01:03:02.639 --> 01:03:07.840
When I got to interview you at the county center, to see the the joy in your face.
01:03:08.079 --> 01:03:11.199
It was it was a special night, is why I love doing what we do.
01:03:11.440 --> 01:03:12.320
Yeah, it was a special night.
01:03:12.559 --> 01:03:17.760
It's not about not about the actual success, not about like there's no money in this scenario.
01:03:18.480 --> 01:03:22.960
You guys are coaches deserve more money than you get you get paid for that matter.
01:03:23.199 --> 01:03:29.840
Um But yeah, the joy you had of like pulling it out and and seeing those kids be so happy.
01:03:30.079 --> 01:03:32.880
Yeah, it was it was the culmination of a just a great run.
01:03:33.039 --> 01:03:38.480
And then we had a couple of state playoff games, which were those ended up being awesome nights up at Yorktown.
01:03:38.639 --> 01:03:46.559
So yeah, the championship game, Kyle Kirkland's draining three-pointers from all over the court, going up and down, and and unstoppable.
01:03:46.800 --> 01:03:47.440
Well, you were crazy.
01:03:47.519 --> 01:03:56.000
You you were you were talking about in a season like you guys had, you have to have you know some luck on your side, where you had the three-pointers, okay.
01:03:57.840 --> 01:04:06.639
We're making every shot, and then but then against North, we couldn't hit a shot, and Kirkland was going up and down the court, making shots left and right, hit seven three-pointers.
01:04:06.880 --> 01:04:07.920
Kyle was on fire.
01:04:08.159 --> 01:04:08.480
On fire.
01:04:08.719 --> 01:04:10.079
And he was like a track star.
01:04:10.480 --> 01:04:12.079
Amazing athlete, what a great night.
01:04:12.159 --> 01:04:14.400
He I mean, he could have been the MVP easily.
01:04:15.039 --> 01:04:16.159
If they won, he would have been the MVP.
01:04:16.480 --> 01:04:16.559
Yeah.
01:04:16.639 --> 01:04:16.800
Yeah.
01:04:17.119 --> 01:04:17.360
100%.
01:04:18.159 --> 01:04:18.960
And you know what?
01:04:19.039 --> 01:04:24.239
That that's why I was so proud of my my team that we were able to overcome that.
01:04:24.800 --> 01:04:27.840
At halftime, we didn't think you guys were gonna pull it off.
01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:28.559
No, it wasn't.
01:04:29.199 --> 01:04:30.480
We thought the team finally went out.
01:04:30.639 --> 01:04:34.079
Because, in fairness to you guys, your playoff run was a hard run.
01:04:34.159 --> 01:04:34.400
Oh.
01:04:34.639 --> 01:04:34.880
Right?
01:04:35.119 --> 01:04:36.880
You could have lost at Greeley.
01:04:37.039 --> 01:04:38.639
We could have lost the Nyak in the first round.
01:04:38.880 --> 01:04:39.679
Could have lost the Nyak.
01:04:39.840 --> 01:04:40.639
Could have lost to Greeley.
01:04:40.800 --> 01:04:44.559
I think we were losing the Nyak late, sorry to interrupt you, late third quarter, early fourth quarter.
01:04:44.639 --> 01:04:45.280
We were losing.
01:04:45.360 --> 01:04:46.559
We pulled that out somehow.
01:04:46.800 --> 01:04:49.920
Greeley, like I said, Greeley could have easily won the section.
01:04:50.079 --> 01:04:55.440
They were they were and they had beat us in December, whipped us, kicked our butt up there.
01:04:55.599 --> 01:04:58.079
We weren't eating they they blew us out of our out of the gym.
01:04:58.239 --> 01:04:58.719
Yep.
01:04:58.960 --> 01:05:00.400
And like Suffering.
01:05:01.280 --> 01:05:02.559
Suffering speaks for themselves.
01:05:02.639 --> 01:05:02.880
Yep.
01:05:03.039 --> 01:05:05.519
Great coach, great program, great player.
01:05:05.679 --> 01:05:10.719
I mean, Jake, Coach Wright, and the supporting cast was really good too.
01:05:10.880 --> 01:05:11.840
They were really good too.
01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:13.039
They all played really well together.
01:05:13.280 --> 01:05:13.599
Really would.
01:05:14.000 --> 01:05:23.760
I I thought losing to them and getting embarrassed on our home court on a Friday night really helped because our preparation, I'm gonna be honest, our preparation for suffering started 9 a.m.
01:05:23.920 --> 01:05:26.320
the next morning after the loss in January.
01:05:26.719 --> 01:05:28.000
Got the five P's going.
01:05:28.239 --> 01:05:29.920
Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
01:05:30.239 --> 01:05:35.599
Because leading up to that suffering game, we had worked on certain sets and actions they ran and we didn't defend them really well.
01:05:35.760 --> 01:05:44.639
And then the next day, in film, we had some good conversations about how we're gonna defend them going forward.
01:05:44.800 --> 01:05:46.559
If we see them again, hopefully we can.
01:05:46.639 --> 01:05:51.519
And then we worked on a lot of the things that they did in practice.
01:05:51.599 --> 01:05:56.320
We worked on a lot of things they did going forward, hoping we'd see them again and do a better job.
01:05:56.559 --> 01:05:59.760
So we did a little bit better job defending them that night, but we also made sure.
01:06:00.559 --> 01:06:02.400
Well, the second half your defense kicked in.
01:06:02.480 --> 01:06:02.880
You needed that.
01:06:02.960 --> 01:06:07.679
The first half, it was just off whatever you guys put up was was a bucket.
01:06:07.920 --> 01:06:08.079
Yeah.
01:06:08.159 --> 01:06:11.039
So I you know that revenge, you know, you don't want to get you got your buck kicked.
01:06:11.119 --> 01:06:12.800
You want to come back and come back, you can't.
01:06:13.519 --> 01:06:14.800
We wanted to get a crack at them.
01:06:15.039 --> 01:06:19.280
But they're a phenomenal team, you know, and if we played them ten times, who knows?
01:06:19.760 --> 01:06:21.119
Maybe we only beat them two or three times.
01:06:21.360 --> 01:06:24.960
But then to your point, like you got you guys, you you hold off Kirkland.
01:06:25.199 --> 01:06:25.280
Right.
01:06:25.360 --> 01:06:27.440
So that's his phenomenal, his phenomenal night.
01:06:27.760 --> 01:06:35.119
I was proud at what what Kirkland was throwing at us is what we kind of threw at suffering with shots.
01:06:35.599 --> 01:06:40.000
And we were able to withstand it and figure out down the stretch.
01:06:40.239 --> 01:06:43.760
Yeah, I mean, he made one with a couple minutes left and we were trailing.
01:06:43.840 --> 01:06:44.000
Yeah.
01:06:44.079 --> 01:06:47.360
And it was just like bing, bing, bing, bing, we win the section championship.
01:06:47.599 --> 01:06:51.199
It was just like the timing where we just went on that run to the room.
01:06:51.360 --> 01:06:52.400
You went on that last run.
01:06:52.559 --> 01:06:52.719
Right.
01:06:52.800 --> 01:06:55.519
If there's two more minutes in the game, who knows what happens?
01:06:55.840 --> 01:06:58.559
You guys went on well, you guys went on what I would call a nick run.
01:06:58.719 --> 01:06:58.960
Okay.
01:06:59.119 --> 01:06:59.360
Exactly.
01:06:59.599 --> 01:07:03.760
Two minutes left, two minutes left in the fourth, and just all of a sudden Brunson hits this shot.
01:07:03.840 --> 01:07:04.000
Right.
01:07:04.159 --> 01:07:04.639
Then this shot.
01:07:05.039 --> 01:07:09.360
They miss a couple, still turnover, uh foul charge, and then we won.
01:07:09.599 --> 01:07:10.400
You had a nick run.
01:07:10.480 --> 01:07:11.280
You guys had a nick run.
01:07:11.360 --> 01:07:11.440
Yeah.
01:07:11.519 --> 01:07:15.199
It was kind of like that against Greeley a little bit too.
01:07:15.599 --> 01:07:18.400
We didn't come from behind, but but that that's how the North game felt.
01:07:18.559 --> 01:07:24.079
Like, oh, in the the Smithtown West game in the in the regional final up at Yorktown.
01:07:24.239 --> 01:07:26.079
They were 22 or 23 and one.
01:07:26.239 --> 01:07:29.840
They had won 22 games in a row, and we were down by like eight or nine in the third quarter.
01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:34.079
We were down by like six or seven with a few minutes left, and it was like bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
01:07:34.159 --> 01:07:36.159
We're up, no time left, we win.
01:07:36.480 --> 01:07:42.320
Like it's just like sometimes you, you know, sometimes it's just it just breaks that way.
01:07:42.639 --> 01:07:46.320
There are no phenomenal seasons without little breaks.
01:07:46.719 --> 01:07:47.280
You have to have them.
01:07:47.440 --> 01:07:47.599
Right.
01:07:47.679 --> 01:07:49.760
I mean, the baseball people call it the baseball gods.
01:07:49.920 --> 01:07:50.000
Right.
01:07:50.079 --> 01:07:50.400
Puck luck.
01:07:50.559 --> 01:07:52.079
Do you believe in guck and hockey hockey or something?
01:07:52.239 --> 01:07:53.280
Yeah, puck luck and hockey.
01:07:54.480 --> 01:07:55.440
Just a one bounce here and there.
01:07:55.679 --> 01:07:58.000
Jeff makes a call, you know, could go either way.
01:07:58.320 --> 01:07:59.840
Well, in high school, at least there's no reviews.
01:07:59.920 --> 01:08:03.119
And in college, you got all these uh, I mean, in pros, you got the reviews.
01:08:03.440 --> 01:08:09.440
You need the whistle, you need the bounces, yeah, you need the gods, you need to get that type of season.
01:08:09.760 --> 01:08:10.079
Everything.
01:08:10.320 --> 01:08:13.440
Because all those teams we played could have easily won.
01:08:13.599 --> 01:08:15.679
And you could argue they were as good as we were.
01:08:15.840 --> 01:08:18.000
It just happened to be on those nights, those were our nights.
01:08:18.079 --> 01:08:20.880
In the single elimination format, that's what can happen.
01:08:21.119 --> 01:08:22.239
And and you guys did it.
01:08:22.399 --> 01:08:22.560
Yeah.
01:08:22.720 --> 01:08:23.760
So that it was amazing.
01:08:23.920 --> 01:08:24.159
Yeah.
01:08:24.399 --> 01:08:26.880
Listen, it was uh it was great to have you here on the locked in.
01:08:26.960 --> 01:08:29.199
I really appreciate you sending some time and sharing some stories with us.
01:08:29.520 --> 01:08:30.720
So thank you very much.
01:08:30.800 --> 01:08:39.920
Uh, what you do and what you guys you done, and what Coach Ward and Kevin Devaney, Devaney have done, everything you guys have done for for student athletes.
01:08:40.319 --> 01:08:40.880
Amazing.
01:08:40.960 --> 01:08:42.399
You guys do yeoman's work.
01:08:42.720 --> 01:08:44.960
Really cool, really, really impressive.
01:08:45.119 --> 01:08:55.279
And hopefully this can continue, and you guys can continue for a long time because it's the student athlete who gets rewarded and and gets celebrated as as they should, and that's what it's all about.
01:08:55.439 --> 01:09:06.239
And look, we all have egos, we want to win, be competitive, but you you want to celebrate the student athlete, and they're being recognized and celebrated by many people, but you guys really enhance that and helped out a great deal.
01:09:06.399 --> 01:09:11.039
And thank you very much for all that you've done and are doing, and hopefully we'll be able to continue to do for a long time.
01:09:11.359 --> 01:09:12.239
We appreciate that.
01:09:12.319 --> 01:09:15.840
And we're not going anywhere, and as Coach said, it's all about the kids.
01:09:15.920 --> 01:09:17.439
So please like and subscribe.
01:09:17.600 --> 01:09:18.640
Thank you for joining us.
01:09:18.800 --> 01:09:23.439
The more followers and likes we can get, and the more exposure we can give to these young kids.
01:09:23.600 --> 01:09:25.760
That is our main mission and our goal.
01:09:26.000 --> 01:09:27.199
So we need your help.
01:09:27.359 --> 01:09:30.399
Just click that little like and subscribe button right there.
01:09:30.560 --> 01:09:31.439
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Share with a friend.
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01:09:33.760 --> 01:09:37.760
Thank you for joining us here with Coach Tom from Rye.
01:09:38.239 --> 01:09:39.520
That's locked in.
01:09:42.319 --> 01:09:43.199
You're about to quit.
01:09:43.279 --> 01:09:44.000
You're about to give up.
01:09:44.159 --> 01:09:44.720
Just keep going.
01:09:44.880 --> 01:09:46.560
You'll get the sign that you need.
01:09:46.720 --> 01:09:48.640
If it's meant to be, something like that will happen.