FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
(PSR) Prep Sports Report 7.27.2024 (Encore Edition) Legends Series feat. Don Jennings and Josh Niblett
Coming to you live from the Eastern Shore, Toyota and Hyundai Studios. The Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Here's your host, Randy Bergen with Coach Rick Cleveland and Coach Mark Leseter. And good Saturday morning to you and welcome to the Topps Attractors Prep Sports Report as we're coming to you live. From the Eastern Shore, Toyota and Hyundai Studios, right here in South Alabama, we are a happy and tickled pink that you are with us today. I can tell you that for sure. And both you coaches are looking good. I always have to say that, you don't know why I'm attracted to saying that to you. But have you been working out? Yes, you look like Rick. Rick, how you doing, brother? I'm doing great, Randy. Hey, we got a great show lined up for you. Got the double D's coming. We got Doug Barbara, just going to be on with us. And then, boy, you're talking about the legend series continues. It's a good one right here, Don Jennings. Randy, you know, when you coach for 46 years, there's people that make an indelible mark in your life. And we've had the opportunity mark between both of us, almost 100 years of coaching. And the guy that we're recognizing today is one of the one of the guys that is at the top of that pyramid. Don Jennings has coached all of his life. I mean, literally, he's a graduate of Viagra High School, the University of Southern, Mississippi. And he and his wife, Margaret, have spent their entire life in education. Has two sons that are, man, I'm telling you, talking about a daddy that's proud of his children. David is a scout for the Baltimore Orioles. And Danny is a assistant general manager of the Washington Nationals. Want to welcome coach Don Jennings on to prep sports report in our legend series. Good morning, coach. How are you doing, pal? Good time, Rick. How are you doing this morning? Well, I'm doing great, coach. And, you know, I'm doing research. I kind of felt like I was back in a film room because I'm looking at your pedigree. And I didn't realize this, coach. Terry never told us this. And even bullet who knows everything about everybody on our staff. I didn't know you played wide receiver for the mobile tarpons. Oh, yeah, well, actually, the mobile bucket near years and I thought I was starting wide. I was split in for those four years. Well, I did not know that. So that's interesting. And that it's interesting to me because if there's a guy that is a defensive guru, Mark, it's Don Jennings, no doubt. And he spent time playing wide receiver after graduating from college and coming home to mobile coach. What what got you into coaching? Tell us the genesis of that. You know, I really, I've been a coach back when I was a teenager, but back in old days, we had baseball in both fields. And that's before we had Babe Ruth and all that little league and everything. Just had the mostly a recognition department had teams and it was called a tiny, much bigger, huge thing. Some of these old people may remember that. But at 16 years old, I coached the midget group in there. We played for the championship and, you know, in that, that kind of hooked me on coaching. And, you know, when I got up and saw them, I ended up being a coach and that's got me there. And as far as before I went into school coaching, I worked out Brooklyn after a place and they closed it and I needed a little bit more school. So I went back to show them this and got my degree where I could go into coaching, started up, sat in my high school, 48 years later, I honked up. That's, that's my story. Guy coaching, you had stops along the way at Davidson and Fair Hope and Robert Stale and Murphy and UMS, right. And I talked just a little bit about the people that influenced you while you were a young coach that, that kind of, kind of nourished you during those early days of coaching. Well, I just started out with, I worked with Laura Harold, who was head coach. He said someone had hired me and he had us, just them and everything. And, well, we're doing things and I picked up a lot there. Of course, he left that one year and called a male, became the head coach at that time and worked with him a while in three years, so I've been three years on the head coach sets and the hostage and it's been the baseball coach at that point. Right, right. Well, the coach went along. All the things, you know, we're talking about, we've influenced me. I guess, you know, Joe Dean over Fair Hope was a very hard news aggressive type guy. I don't want to see him, everything. I learned a lot under him. I learned a awful lot of deep things. And then WC Mater's came in the last year, I was there. And just learning how to coach under him was a lot of things that I learned there. And, of course, you know, working with Terry at Mercy and Larry Henderson and Terry, you know, you pick up something from everybody along the way, but just seeing how Terry ran a program was very special. Coach, one of the things that I've always known about you is you are so organized and to the minute, I mean, to the detail, every detail, step, what step, what arm, so on and so forth. Was there anybody that influenced you there? Because when you talk about Joe Dean, when you say Joe Dean, I think about Don Jennings because of defensive football, you two guys are at the top of the list, top chef, when it comes to defensive football. Where did all the particulars of the finite things that you teach? Where did that come from? Was that something that Joe told, or was it just something that you got further? That's something I just myself, I guess. When I coached the position, it was something I was really unfamiliar with. I had to study that position, and I did. And all my life, since I watched the NFL games, and I watched how those guys would play that position. And what's their footwork, and what they did with a hand on, and everything. And I just kind of got that in my way of teaching to start with a seat, right, and own up the ladder, and just getting everything right, cross all the T's and all the I's. We're talking to Don Jennings in our legend series, and of course, long-time coach for most of you people that are listening now statewide. You'll recognize the name as a defensive coordinator at UMS, right? With Terry Curtis for many, many years. Coach, when you got into coaching, you obviously had a real love for baseball. And was the same love that you had for baseball? Did you have that for football as well? Or was it something that just grew into as you developed into a coach? I was probably younger, you know, into baseball because I would go in the summer up to visit my grandmother in Birmingham. And I would get my grandfather and uncle, would take me to Rickwood Field, I'd say, old Rickwood Field, with their major league game here in the last couple of weeks. So I was dying from the Cardinals, and that just kind of got me into baseball early. And later on, you know, in high school, I got into football, and well, even before they had in middle school, I just said, "Great, first year, I'd actually played football." And that just kind of fired me up getting into football. And of course, when I played with the Falcons, I think that really made me want to be a football coach. And that way, you know, you always feel like you're gonna be the next player, Brian, or then it's my father, and I found out I wanted to go and think that, but I tried to do the best I could at what my assignment was. Well, we're visiting with Coach Don Jennings in our legend series, and we got about 45 seconds left here, so I'm going to save my question for you for our next segment, because I want to talk a little bit about, in Fair Hope being in Fair Hope, what you did there, and your coaching there, and your sons, and also I want to talk to you a little bit about Southern Miss, and maybe reflect back on a little bit of that. But it's fun to have you here with us, and Rick, as always, our legend series brings out the best in the coaching that we have. It absolutely does, and you know the one thing that we'll talk to Don about as we get into the next segment is we'll talk about those particulars, Mark, because you've been a defensive coach in the last couple of years. What Coach Jennings has done is he took, and let me tell you something, he didn't always, when we were at UMS together, he didn't always get the best players, and Coach, that's something else we want to talk about, is kind of like how we drafted players that you had missed when we knew what our roster was, because Coach Jennings and I had a couple squabbles, because he had some players that I wanted. Well that's going to kind of lead us up to the last part of the segment. I want to ask him what it was like for coaching all these years with Coach Terry Kurz. What was it like when y'all were in a room by yourselves together, because there might be some stories that need to come out on that, but we're going to talk to him once. As far as that, we weren't in the room, but he was on the outside, so I don't think it was. All right, well let's take a quick time out. When we come back, we'll continue our legend series with the infamous Don Jennings. Don't go anywhere more of the Thompson Tractor's Prep Sports Report. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Call or text the Prep Sports Report at 251-343-0106 on the Pumps Market Communication Lines. Now back to the show. And we certainly welcome you back to the Thompson Tractor's Prep Sports Report. Ray D'Bargain, Coach Rick Cleveland, and Coach Mark Laster. And Rick, I tell you, legend series with one of the most respected coaches, not just in the state, but in the South for sure, Coach Don Jennings on the line with us. Yeah, and Coach, I got to go somewhere with you that not a lot of people know about. So I'll let you to bear with me here now. Okay, and just bear with me, because you know I spent some time at Fair Hope and it wasn't nearly as good as it was for you. You know, when you were coaching at Fair Hope, you and Jodene used to sit in the car and blow on the windows to fog them up. And y'all would sit there and die a gram defenses on the windows when they were fogged. Tell us about that story. That's what I'm believe for. You're right down the road, you know, we go straight down somebody. Right. And the other somebody like that. And he blew on the window and then parking X and O up there. And he's talking all this time. And as he put that first X and O on it, and it start disappearing. So as he walks further along, and time he gets to the end, all the X and O's are gone and I'm sitting up going, huh? That's a nice of three folks. Oh my goodness. And I think that what he's saying, but it's over. It's just fear as he goes down the line. Coach, that's my best story. I've ever heard. Oh my goodness. I'm just telling you, Randy, I know you want to ask something about baseball. We were talking about baseball with the coach Jennings here and of course, coach, I grew up playing with your son. Dan, I played over in Baymanette, of course, him and Fair Hope and we got to play in high school together or against each other and Babe Ruth and senior Babe Ruth and very much enjoyed. Well, I can't say I enjoyed playing against him because it's like all I heard every time I got up to the plate was, yeah, I heard three of those. Oh, you can go sit down now. I never, I mean, had a little. Coach, he got hurt his senior year and I want you to tell us just a little bit about Dan and how he was able to play his senior year after he got hurt. He had an ACL injury, didn't he? Yeah, well, he was on the football team as a safety, but he's actually been a quarterback, you know, and so we were having quarterback problems and you took Dan, you're gonna make him quarterback this week and against Murphy and you know, big ball game and he ran an option and the guy grabbed him behind on his shoulder pads and twisted his knee and hurt it. And he had operation on it and so I thought, well, he's over through the football, that's the senior year, so we don't get him ready for baseball and I made him go out on the bleachers that Fair Hope passed through and run 50 of those, they were safe and they got strong enough to beat the boys and when we played the first ball game, it was against Ronnie Powell, Davidson, and he played in a tournament that they had, and it was a municipal park, that's where it was shot. Right, right, so he pitched that night against him and shot him out and threw a true hitter against him and I said, well, he's ready, so that's what happened to get him ready to play. Well, I got to tell you, one of your friends sent us a text that said, and this is Glenn Vickery, he said, "Coach, non-ginnings put ball one county baseball on the map, he is responsible for the upgrade in baseball in Baldwin County." That's, coach, I've heard that from so many different people and then Glenn to share that with us this morning. Glenn, I don't know a little bit about baseball, too. Yeah, he was the, oh, I remember Glenn in house because he was a great pitcher. They could throw a ball. They weren't bad when I got there, but then the year before I took over, they won two ball games and then we kind of turned it around from there. But I remember, I'm firing a baseball game, and it's fair, I guess I must have been coaching to set some of these. And when I, and it's slowly and fair holes were playing each other, you're in spring training. So I walked out on a ball field and here comes both teams with the shells on some football. They had to game pants on and game jerseys and the football shoes. They had to head on the football they had in the fair hole pit. And I said, man, this is not baseball I've seen in Mobile County. And they weren't playing that many games, but it got better. And I know John Lee coached the baseball they weren't time for. I got there when we was over at Setzuma. I was coaching him there, but then they weren't bad. But the amount of games they played were less than well they played in Mobile County. So we up to schedule on that and it kind of took off them there. Well, coach, you sure are, I mean, you're so well thought of over here that anytime I'm in a baseball game and they know I coached at UMS and they always ask, how's non-genings? Well, I always tell them he's in the weight room. I mean, he's in the film room right now. Well, we're watching this way. He's in the film room. Coach, I want you to talk about the relationships y'all had at Murphy. I always thought that y'all had such a wonderful staff that came together. And y'all just had a great thing going at Murphy while you were there. Yeah, well, when I first went to Murphy, I had a layer of head coach and did a good job, a good coach. And on our defensive staff, we had Ronnie Roberts, who went on to be a principal in several schools. And yeah, I'm sure they didn't want to UMS, but you know, excellent coach, a good defensive back coach. And we just got along good together. And y'all went to conventions and all with each other, football type stuff, and just powered around each other. And you know, your relationship. Did you, were you on that staff, you may have been already going to UMS with Terry then, but did y'all play in a state championship game against Austin of Decatur? No, we played in two state championship games, one Larry Henderson, the head coach. Right. Played in, I think it was '89 and '90. And firstly, we should have won, felt like, and you know, played in Madison. And then we played Jesse Lanier out of Birmingham in a second one, and I guess we could still be playing them probably in Carl's 50 yard line. But anyway, we got to the state championship twice there on the back. Well, and when you played Jesse Lanier, they had an offensive line that looked like an NFL offensive line, if I'm not mistaken. 300 pounds, I think the center was 285, but everybody else was 300 pounds. So they were big and strong, yeah. You know, coach, Coach Jennings, coach Lasseter, I was just wanted to ask a question, you're talking about some of the old memories you had. I always like to hear coaches tell about games that you remember are certain plays that you might have remembered that were some of the most memorable for you in your coaching career and whatever, whether head coach, assistant coach, whatever. Can you tell us one of those games or one of those experiences you had, it was probably one of the most meaningful you ever had. Oh, boy, you know, what I remember about ball games, more the things that games we lost, games that went wrong, and those experiences, I still remember those. The wins, I didn't dwell on them too much after winning. Let's get ready. You know what I'm playing next ball game. Hey, coach, we got a hard break right here on us. Let's take that real quick. Hey, tight. We're back with coach Don Jennings as our legend series continues right here on the top subtractors prep sports report. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report brought to you by Alpha Insurance. Now back to your host, Randy Bergen. Hey, welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Little boss gags. Hey, I ain't promise you Don Jennings knows who boss gags. They know that coach take it away. You know, coach, I got to get personal now. I got to really get personal now about something that stuck in my crawl for a long, long time. We had an offensive tackle in the state championship game. It was 17 for 18. And on one particular play, he blocked three different people. He was a junior this year. And I come back after the season. And Jay Prash is playing dead gum wide back. Don Jennings has done stolen the best offensive lineman we have. And he said, well, I'll let you use him every once in a while. In one game, I called Jay Prash four times. Don said on the headset, keep Prash on the bench. He needs to read. How did that happen? No, how did that happen? Well, what happened was Jay was a man to you. He was a not greater and 10th quarter. He was a line biker. So we'll let you all have him for one year. We're going to leave him as a line biker. So that's how that happened. So so the deal is you we borrowed him from you and Sudha. You better ask Margaret to forgive you for forever lending. Then that had to be a closed-door meeting with you and Terry. Nice graders, kids graders, line biker. I want my line biker back. Coaches all kind of stories about how we went about putting players in positions. And it was always fun, coach. I mean that. But you know, we didn't have a lot of deals. No, and we won state championships. I swear if we had certain players went down, we wouldn't want to state championship. That's how thin we were. So we're talking about a four-way school is trying to go offense and defense to play 22 players. So it got thin. It was always a big hassle in the spring when we start with the players on one side or the other and in the fall. And listen, if Don ever said, that's where he's staying, everybody should. That's where he's staying. That's where he's staying. I'd say that. When Terry took over Murphy High School program, he said, three things I want. I want a quarterback, a running back and rather safer, and y'all can have the risk. Players after those three and then the rest of the offense would have to scramble to get what they needed. I had to play that ace several times at your meal. I can attest to that. Terry was pretty forthright when he said, no, he's staying there. He's staying there. And Don would just sit over there. My time's coming. My time's coming. That's as much fun as I've ever had coaching. I won't tell you that. Don, talk a little bit about spring training. You and I talked about this at one time, and I was an advocate for doing away with spring training. Don said, well, I ain't gonna tell you what he said, but he said, no, not doing away with spring training. Talk a little bit about that. You gotta have that. That's what gets the young kids ready to play. And you can go easy on the older guys that know what they're doing, they would think, but it's a teaching time. If you don't have that, you're going to the fall and you've got three weeks to get ready for a ball. This is what you think fun remembers. And, you know, it's blocking and tackling and, you know, the old coaches used to say is, you start with blocking and tackling. And I say now, it's not, that's not the first thing. The first thing is signing 11 people is willing to run into somebody else. Why? And once you get there, then you teach blocking and tackling. Yeah, that's true. Well, I can tell you this, I don't know of anybody that I've ever coached with that ever did it any better than teaching blocking and tackling. And coach, you were that guy that slanted. You were, you talk a little bit about your theory on slanting those defensive linemen. And that's, that was unique to me. I coached in four state championship games at Daphne, and we played Jeremy Pruitt and Hoover, and he started doing that, that gum slide and stuff and all that stuff. And then when I got to UMS, I said, well, I've seen this before. No, I ain't nothing like what Nod does. Talk a little bit about that. We had Murphy for what the UMS went up to Southern Miss and met with our coaching staff and they showed us a certain type of slanting defense. And we came back in programming to fit in our plan. And that's how we got into doing that. And we also basically were, I based defense was a 50, straight 50 defense, hardly ever played it. So every now and then we call it. So what my thinking was, that guy liming in front, you know, he's gonna know we're gonna slant left, we're gonna slant right, we're gonna hit him in the face. And that gives him a little indecision right there, just being able to move. And the next thing was, at UMS, the very first year, we had the lineman that was there, left over for us, and we played McGill early and they beat us. And we didn't look good on defense. And I told Terry, I said, look, these guys right here are offensive linemen. We're trying to use, we've got to move on and everything, we can't do it. So we put them on offense and took back up line backers and put them as they have down linemen. We had 172 pound right tackle, I like a weak side tackle. And we moved, you know, we just got smaller people in that could move. And because we were not ever big at UMS, we had one two big guys, every man. But we were small. That first day of spring training, we'll move off in that weight room and look at all those kids sitting on the floor and then short, the thing sure, I said, Oh, just gonna be bad. But we ended up winning. You know, you want a lot of games with them, coach, you want a lot of games with them. Those kids were smart. They did what we told them to do. And we had no problem different wise wasn't everything. And they just played good football for the most part. They gave it everything they had. And no, you get that out of a kid and you got a chance of winning. Coach, I want to ask you a question. About two minutes before this period ends. What if you had to give advice to a young coach just getting started? What would your advice to him to be to how to be the best coach he could be? Well, first thing being loyal to the head coach, you know, a lot of coaches, I've seen young guys, they're not, they don't, they were ready to be the head coach right now. Just listen and learn. That's the main thing. Learn how to coach. Because when I got in, I looked back now. I thought I knew everything. You know, now I know so much more that I did not know then. And that's the way it is in life. Everybody thinks they know everything from the young. But they find as you get older, it's not the things you know, you know, you want a clear show on TV with that kind of stuff. It's the wisdom we gain in making the right decisions and things like that. So I just say just listen and absorb things. And if you go to, you know, some more where they're talking football or something, maybe get one thing out of it that's hippie down the line. The other next thing is, I've always heard that the best coaches, the winning coaches, weren't as organized and learn how to organize everything you do. You know, I was saying right there, you know, put you on the right track. That's right. Well, coach, you, you learned it at a pretty young age because by the time you were to places you were at, you certainly implemented that to the highest degree. And coach, we talked to a lot of coaches. But I can tell you this, every coach we've ever talked with that knows UMS Wright and Murphy has the utmost respect for Don Jennings. And you can count three guys in here on PSR that certainly consider you a legend of our sports. And not just one sport, but in those, in both baseball and football. And we want to thank you and please say hello to Margaret for us. And we are, we are so thankful for what you've done and thank you for what you've done for so many young men and women in high school sports. We appreciate you. I hope they all got something out of it. I just, well, my best, I could do. That's all you can do. We, that's all you can do, coach. And you have certainly done that. And thank you for spending time with us this morning. We look forward to seeing you soon and God bless. All right. Thank you. Enjoy God bless you. Thank you very good. Good talking to you, Don. Coach Don Jennings right there. I gotta tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed that. That was as funny. That was some good stuff right there. I've never heard that. I have never heard the story of the fogging up the window. That's classic. Well, you can give Danny credit for that. I've never sent that to them either. Just that time he'd get the X on there and put the O in there and the X go away. Go away. And by the time he got done, all of it was gone. I was supposed to remember it. That's great. Good stuff. Oh my goodness. Good, good, good stuff. Coach Don Jennings, well, I'll tell you one of the very, very best. No doubt. All right. We'll take a time out. When we come back, Rick, you will have our leadership segment. And as we roll on right here on the Thompson Tractor's Press Sports Report. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. PSR is live every Saturday from 8 until 10 a.m. Now back to the show. He wouldn't mean to, but you know he likes his phone. Go ahead, JoJo. See, that is your song. That is a song for him. Don't say anything. Keep it right there. Keep it right there. This is the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. And it is time for our leadership segment. Coach, it is all you, my man. You know, we've been talking about leadership for a long time on here. Not a long time. I mean, in the last year, we've started this. And I think one of the things that I've learned, and I think a lot of people learn, is there's a lot and lots of great leaders in our midst. And they go about it in different ways and they're able to, they're able to lead their legion of followers in the way that is successful for them. But a good mini album, I'm sure they have noble motives, but they still struggle because they have forgotten the first step in the process of leading others. And that step involves leading yourself exceptionally well. As a leader, you are a model of successful behavior for the people you lead. They're far more likely to do what you do than they are to do what you say. You can tell them to have a positive attitude, but if your attitude is less and stellar, then theirs will be too. You can tell them that punctuality is important, but if you show up whenever you want, then you can expect much the same out of your people. And please, don't tell me that you've earned the right to show up whenever you want to. Don't tell me you've worked for that special privilege that you've given yourself. That's not what great leaders do. And as a leader, what you have earned is the right to model successful behavior. You've earned the right to think, to speak and act in the identical manner that you expect your people to think, speak and act. And here's the reality of leadership that many people miss. If your people have a bad attitude, the first place to look for the source of that bad attitude is in the mirror. I'm going to repeat that because you know, I'm around a lot of people that are leaders and I'm blessed to have some people that are really good leaders in my life. And I want to repeat what I just said. Here's the reality of leadership that many people miss. If your people have a bad attitude in your workplace, I don't care if it's in a coaching room, if it's in a business room, if it's in an attorney's room, if it's in a doctor's office, if your people have a bad attitude, the first place to look for the source of that bad attitude is in the mirror. It all starts with you. Your people will often reflect the attitudes they see in you. Don't go around kidding yourself into thinking you can hide it from them. The only person you're fooling is yourself. If you can't control your emotions, if you can't control your attitude, if you can't control your actions, if you can't control your feelings, if you can't control your thoughts and your interactions with people, then don't expect anyone who follows you to control any of those things either. Leadership is not about telling people what to do or how to behave, it's about showing them. If you have aspirations to lead others, you must first lead yourself exceptionally well. Forgetting that or convincing yourself that you can skip that step will cause you and the people you're trying to lead, nothing but trouble. Your people will not follow. In fact, they cannot make the emotional attachment required to actually follow. You will fall into the trap of trying to manage them and then the real problems begin. Don't do that to your people or to yourself. Learn to lead yourself and you'll find leading others to be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Wow, that's powerful stuff Rick. You're right. I hear you talk about leadership and looking in the mirror and that's where it all begins and anything to me that we do. If you're going to be the leader of your family, if you're going to be the leader of your organization at school, if you're just a person who works with a group of people that are not in a leadership role, there is always some form of leadership we're all in at some way, shape, or form. Even in our, just if we're like a part of the gang, it's out there building the house and everybody's out there and all I'm doing is driving the hammer. Well, if I can't do the best I can in what I'm doing, then the other guys around me may not do it either. You know more, and I thought about this a lot, when you're a head football coach or you're an athletic director and you've got a coach's meeting, you've got a called coach's meeting and you walk in there 10 minutes late. What are you telling all your coaches? What are you saying? Are you saying, well, next time I'm just going to be 10 minutes late. No, it's not what you need to say. You need to say I'm going to be 10 minutes early. My leader's not going to be here. I'm going to be here on time. You know, I've worked for a lot of really good coaches and I do not know one that wasn't in that meeting at least five to 10 minutes before that meeting was supposed to start. But then you watch things on TV or something and you got, and I know it's probably based on something that really happened in life. I got a meeting and got people sitting there and 10 minutes after the meeting's supposed to start walks in with a big folder. Sorry I'm late guys. I had to brush my teeth or something. You know, I don't know what it was, but you know, if you're going to lead, you got to lead by example, not by words. And that's what people follow. People follow your lead, not your verbal exchanges. I don't know. I saw a lot of this stuff I wish I'd have known when I was young. I do. I'm talking about I wish I'd I wish I'd have been with somebody or had the ability to learn this stuff about leadership, because it'll change your life for the better. If you follow the example, I'm so thankful for Nathan Cox and what those guys are doing, because this is getting out to the leaders in so many different areas of life. Not only coaches, but business men, doctors, lawyers. Man, I think it's powerful. Good stuff. No doubt. No doubt. All right, we'll take a time out. When we come back top of the hour, we're going to have Josh Niblet from Gainesville, Georgia. He's going to be on with us right after this. Coming to you live. The Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Presented by Alpha. Here's your host, Randy Burgen with Coach Rick Cleveland and Coach Mark Lasseter. And we welcome you into the second hour of the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report as we're coming to you live from the Easter Shore Toyota and Hyundai Studios located right here in South Alabama. Glad to have you on board with us. I am Randy Burgen along with Coach Rick Cleveland, Coach Mark Laster. And guys, our legend series continues and Rick, boy, we got a good one today. Well, there's no doubt about that, Randy. You know, he's talking to Josh last night and he's a coach legend. Well, that's the status he's attained now. And that's even though he's still coaching, and I think Josh will be coaching until until God moves him somewhere else. And first, let's welcome Josh Niblet in the PSR. Josh, good morning and thank you for taking time out to visit with us, pal. Good morning, fellas. Hey, man, it's nothing like getting to talk to you guys, man. Well, let me say this. I go back to when this guy was a little bitty boy chasing foul balls at a softball tournament. Billy Livens had a softball team that Josh and Ted were chasing foul balls and his daddy John was playing and his daddy John was a heck of an athlete and the heck of a football coach and administrator for many years. But this is a guy that I have the utmost respect for. Josh, we know you're engaged with Georgia. We want to talk a little bit about what all happened in Alabama because it's just nothing but a success story. Starting really at men of you, Chris. And I guess he was an assistant with his dad and then he went to Jacksonville State and was on that staff as a strength and conditioning guy. But I want you to bring us up to date on Gainesville before we get into all of that because I think people in Alabama need to know and want to know the success that you've already accumulated right there in that wonderful community in Gainesville, Georgia. Well, I appreciate that, man. I mean, you know, Alabama is special to me. Always will be special to me. And me, of course, when you spend, you know, 50 years of your life and well, really probably 48 or 49 because we did spend one one year in Georgia. But, you know, like growing up, you know, understanding high school football from a perspective in the state of Alabama and then, you know, coaching a place like Hoover for 14 years. I mean, it's always going to be a special place. But, you know, it's always been a ministry for me. And I just felt like, you know, God was trying to send me because I think sometimes it's there's a difference between listening to your soul and listening to the spirit. And so, you know, I feel like when you listen to the soul, it'll keep you in the common spot, traveling a road that's been traveled by most. And I'm not one of those guys and I just feel like God has always blessed me with, you know, not to do it different because it's just doing it different. But, you know, go down your own road, be who God's made you to be and what he's called you to be. And so, you know, I felt like there was an opportunity that, you know, I was able to retire from Alabama and I never really ever thought about retiring. So I come over here to Gainesville and, you know, facility here. I mean, I can't tell you they're better than some D1 colleges. I mean, we have a 100 yard indoor facility. I mean, we've got to stay to the art weight room. We've got team meeting room. We've got an unbelievable locker room for our players, coaches, offices. We're doing a $4 million renovation on our stadium right now. And so, you know, we've got an unbelievable deal that we've been doing here and people here always tell people you want to be where people want to win. And people take win seriously, but also, you know, give us an opportunity to mentor our players as men. And so, my first year, we went to the finals and we won. The region went 10. I went to the finals, played Langston Hughes and probably played a little better for 56 seconds, 58 seconds. We win that game and come back last year and, you know, we end up, you know, winning the region again, going undefeated again. And we get to the third round and within the fourth drive of the, you know, offensive series, we lost our quarterback and our running back. And we still just lost 20 to 17. I had a touchdown call back. So really had an opportunity to get back there to have a chance to win it last year, what we didn't. And so, you know, we're 26 and two the last two years. And, you know, I'm blessed. I think the greatest thing about here is this community, you know, I mean, these people love their football, but they love their people. They're going to take care of their own. You know, our kids, you know, we have a little bit different, different demographic. But like our kids, you know, they just, they don't come from much sometimes. And, you know, we got a lot of kids that come from one parent homes. And, you know, we're trying to provide, you know, not only the resources, but provide the discipline and the leadership and the guidance and the mentorship that they need for a connection there that they can build. Because, you know, we just want them to be all some fathers and all some husbands one day. And so, you know, this group coming back. I mean, we've got some talented guys coming back. So we'll have an opportunity, but, you know, it's just like anything else you go as your leaders go when I think our leaderships got to continue to get better. Coach, this is Mark. I just wanted to, first of all, it's great to hear your voice, pal. It really is. We missed you around here. But I wanted to ask something that I've always wondered a little bit about. You growing up, as you grew up, how did your youth, your life at home and at school, as you grew up, how did that permeate into who you became and the coach you became later? Can you kind of give us an idea how that took transpired? Well, I just think growing up watching my dad coach for 30 plus years, but, you know, in the summer, I mean, you didn't have, I mean, my dad still, I mean, me and my brother did the grass cutting. And, you know, we did the painting in the, you know, the hallways and the bathrooms in the summer. I mean, we were, we were meant to wait, but I did some child labor laws back then, but we probably could have. I mean, we worked for, you know, we worked for small wages, too, but, hey, we knew when that truck came around at lunch, hey, we were fired to go out and eat for lunch because we hardly ever got to do that. But just, you know, and then when we had time, like me and my brother, just always playing. I mean, sports has always been a big part of who we are. I mean, you know, back then, you didn't have ESPN and cable TV. So when a game came on and you got to watch it, you studied it. I mean, I remember we had an Atari and we just didn't stay inside very much. But when we played Atari, we kept stats. You know, we were like the announcers, you know, we were Keith Jackson, we were calling it all out. So I think that's the thing that kids missed today is the little beady things that made the sport so special. You know, we played Nerf basketball in the room and you wore warmups because you had to then start lineups and take your warmups off, you know, when we played baseball, you know, we got flour out of my mom's flour pot because we had to have a batter's box. Be that a batter's box? You know, and so I think that's the thing. It's the little beady things that I think are the things that make sports so special. And then just watching my dad work, you know, watching my dad coach guys and be able to coach every facet of the game, whether it's offense, defense, or special teams, you know, it was, it was when the helmets came in from reconditioning and you were so excited because of that and spirit packs came in and, you know, going out and practicing with the older guys and doing agility drills with them. And, you know, I just, you know, it's just who I wanted to be. I mean, I, yeah, I would love to play pro football, but look, I didn't, that wasn't something I was going to chase that dream the rest of my life. Just when somebody said, Hey, I don't think it's going to work out. Okay. Well, I want to coach. I mean, it's what I want to do. I mean, like, I didn't say I wanted to be a fireman. I didn't say I wanted to be a lawyer, a policeman, you know, a businessman. I mean, from day one, I said, Hey, look, I can't play an approach. I want to coach and I've loved every minute of it. Now, do I have some anxiety and stress and do I deal with stuff that, you know, sometimes you're, you think, man, just the world, you're on top of the world and then all of a sudden the world's on top of you. But, you know, it's just like it says in Psalms, you know, God pulls us out of the doubt. So I just put, try to put my faith to trust in him. He's put me in something that, man, I think him every day for having the parents that I had, but, but also being able to be in this occupation and sports. Now we're visiting with the Coach Josh Niblet in our legendary series. And we're going to take a time out here in just a second. But Rick, I, I couldn't use, you saw me, we're just giggling. We're all just giggling because we can reflect back on everything he just said about growing. That's what I think these kids do miss today is being outside, doing the little things, listening to the radio while you're playing football against your brother. I mean, you know, it's just those little things. Yeah, and this is the most competitive family that you will ever say. Promise you that. And that starts with your dad, Josh. You know that better than I do. It is what I'm talking about. We play. Oh, yeah. Well, we used to play it. So here's what's funny, Rick. See, this is going to really tell my age now. So the other night, my daughter and my son, my son's show is on my staff now. He's coaching running backs for me. And he's kind of like our O.C. with our freshman futures team and Harper's home from college. And so the church asks us to play church league softball. Well, you know, that's all around and played professional softball for a while. But I mean, I was back in 2002. And so the kids are like, come on, dad, play. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to play. I mean, like, you don't understand. Like, why not? I was like, because I ain't hit any. Like, I'm not going to play. I think I went two for six. And my daughter went seven for seven. So I ain't never going to hear the end of it. All right. Hey, we're going to continue this conversation with Coach Nivelant. Don't go anywhere. You don't want to miss this. It's the Thompson Tractors Prep Sports Report. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Call or text the Prep Sports Report at 251-343-0106 on the Pops Market Communication Lines. Now back to the show. And we certainly welcome you back to the Thompson Tractors Prep Sports Report. Coming to you live from the Eastern Shore Toyota and Hyundai, Genesis Room, Randy Bergen, Coach Rick Cleland, Coach Martin Laster, our legend series continues. And boy, we haven't fun with Coach Josh Nivelant. The head football coach for the Red Elephants of Gainesville. Coach, thank you for hanging tight with us and excited about this segment as well, Rick. I know we've got a lot to get into. Well, we do. And you know, Josh, you started your head coaching job. I think in about the year 2000 at Aniana. And people don't know this down here about Aniana. They love high school sports. I'm telling you, they love, love, love their football at Aniana. Talk a little bit about you taking that job. That was, you were a young captain, pal. Yeah, boy. I thought I had all the answers. Yeah, I learned real quick. No, you know, I think the neat thing about it was I thought I wanted to be a college coach. I really, really did. You know, when I finished playing in Alabama, you know, I had an opportunity. I could have stayed in GA, but you know what, my dad, here's the other thing my coach, you know, like, you don't coach players that you play with because there's not a respect there. Like, I just don't feel like, you know, so I always saw coaching as a respect deal because I always respected my coaches. I didn't say I had to like everyone of them, but I respected them. All right. Well, for me, I thought I wanted to coach college, so I coached with Daddy at Medebu Christian in Selma, Alabama for a semester. You know, I do a PE curriculum. I'm helping dad with baseball, coaches of basketball, and I'm a defense coordinator of football. I've had the office coordinator on offense, and Daddy's the head coach, and a guy played with it so they missed my freshman year, came through with it, Jacksonville State, and I go there to become a restricted earnings coach, then become the head strength coach, and then pick up, you know, running backs and head of football operations. Well, our coach resigned after the third game of the year at Samford, and so, you know, I've got eight or nine games left, and then I've got to find a job, and I just prayed to God. I thought maybe that was the crossroads in my life that I was supposed to be doing something else, and maybe I was just choosing to do something I wanted to do, but God provided me with an opportunity. I interviewed with three high schools, honey, on them was one of them. I didn't hear anything for 20 days. Me and my wife were praying, she's working at Alpha Insurance as a CSR on the way home from a Christmas deal. We just said, "Lord, just give us a sign, tell us what we need to do," because we're running out of time, and we just don't know, but we want to put it all in your hands. The next morning, she's at work, and I'm holding Shaw, who is probably about eight months, nine months old, and about that time, I get two phone calls from two schools. One of them was on the honor to offer me the job, and, you know, I didn't know really what I was getting into yet, but I knew I was ready to get into it, and so, you know, they were, I think they were one in nine, three and seven, the two years before I got there, and the first year we went five and six, went and played field campbell, and I was probably had no business going to do in that, but, you know, we got stoked pretty good. The next group comes back, we go seven and four, make it to the first round, get beat by Colbert County, who now becomes probably a rivalry for us the next four years, and then my third year, which was really the group that I knew was going to have a lot of leadership to it, we went 11 and two, and I ended up beating West Morgan, who was the number one team in the state in the second round, lost to Colbert County, seven to six in the third round, the next year we go to the finals, beat Colbert County in the semis, go thirteen and two and lose to Pike County, and then we come back my last year there, go fifteen and oh, and then beat Windfield in the state championship game, and, you know, that place was just, you know, it went from, we didn't have hardly anybody there, I mean, there was some history and tradition there when Vermont Russell, those guys played there, there was a state championship that had been played four and one back in the eighties, and so it was about tapping back into that community, and that's the one thing Gainesville reminds me of is, you know, it's the community, you know, which, and I love my time at Hoover, but it was, it was more of a city, it's hard to get everybody together here, there's one thing going on on Friday night in that high school football, and so that was the same way it was at Aniana. And between Aniana and Hoover, there was a three-year stay at Oxford, and that's another rabid place for high school football. If you've never, you know, and we know from Bill Burgess and Charlie Maniscalco and all of those guys that were there who taught me wishbone football, Josh goes into Oxford, talk briefly about that stint at Oxford. Well, we did, you know, Oxford, you know, it was a deal to where, you know, I mean, I would just be honest with you, coach is not about pay, but, you know, it gave me an opportunity to support my family because we were now, had three kids, and I doubled my salary, and, you know, it was just kind of a no-brainer. My wife's from Alexandria, Alabama, so we were able to go there, and we had some success there, you know, my last year was, you know, we just, you know, then all of a sudden got the opportunity to go to Hoover and, you know, prayed about it, you know, I didn't know if it was exactly what I was supposed to do yet, because everybody'd be like, well, I didn't feel like, I didn't know if I'd even have an opportunity to do that, but, you know, the thing at Oxford was just they take their football, they love it, you know, and they went through a time where, you know, we were in the highest classification, and then we got back to, you know, five-eight, you know, in my first year there, you know, we transitioned to six-eight, and then we were in six-eight, my last year there, in my first year, I think we were five-eight, and Gadsden City had not come together yet, so we were playing them, and, you know, everybody's like, we're going to six-eight, we're not going to survive, you know, I'm like, look, we're not going to survive without, with that mentality, so my second year, you know, we really, I mean, we played well, and then we went to Vestavia, and I mean, they beat us like 51 to 38, um, at their place, and we don't have a, you know, kick off the turn for a touchdown, we may have shot to win that game, but then that's when the next year, we turned it up a notch, and, and our kids believed in what we were doing, the community was believing in what we were doing, and, and then we got hit with an ineligible player, um, and, you know, we're 10 and 0, and, and we end up being 3 and 7, and really, I felt like that group was going to have a chance to make a run at it, and so, uh, but I was proud of my time there, and I'll never, never wish to never have that time, because I learned a lot, and then, I think the greatest thing about it was that bursty that I went through with our players, you know, it taught me a lot, you know, within the profession, um, but also it taught me a lot about community. Well, and, and I'll tell you this about Oxford, the, the great thing for you there was the jump up in salary, but people recognized you statewide after that, that your name became one of those names that people were talking about to go to those premier jobs, and rush probes, and, and, and it wasn't, and you coach, I mean, like, it's not about the next job, I think of one thing I've always tried to do a really good job is, and I preach our players about magnitude, moments of magnitude, which you only have moments of magnitude if you're where your feet are, you know, and so I've always tried to do my feet are give the best version of myself, and then I think when you don't look is when you find, you know, if you see a little, you see a lot, if you see a lot, you see very little. And so I think that's the way I've always approached it. And God's blessed me with those opportunities and those connections. And so I felt like everywhere I've ever been, you know, I've been able to touch lives and impact his kingdom, but also at the same time my life's been touched and I've learned a lot also. Well, I think that's the huge thing about Josh Niblet is you hear him talking about how much he's learned from the situations he's been in, and he's been in some good ones, but he's created a lot of better things for that good situation than what he had when he got there. We only got about a minute and a half in this segment. Of course, we're bringing them over to the last segment too. But Josh talk about the what got where did the interest come from at Hoover? Where did that begin? Oh, well, as far as the interest of them and me probably, you know, I mean, heck, I'll be honest with you, man, I, you know, you could say whatever you want, but you know, Rush and I created a relationship when I was at Aniana, you know, when I knew Rush and, you know, and then I think Rush had a respect for me as he saw what we were doing and growing in Aniana, you know, Rush was one of the ones that told me way back when I was at Aniana, he goes, you'll be the next coach at Spain Park, you know, you know, I never believed him or whatever, but, you know, just because when you're in 3A, you know, you just, you struggle with seeing yourself going from 3A to say, am I going to be in 6A? And so for me, once I went to Oxford and then we made that run at it, we earned a lot of respect from a lot of people and a lot of higher classifications because now we were the ones in there making a run. There was only two or three teams that were undefeated, we were one of them. And so, you know, I had an interest to wear when I was in Aniana, I was an interim pastor at a church in Remlap, Alabama. And one of the guys there within that association and that church was a part of what we were doing. And so, that's kind of a connection that I had. Coach, I want you to hang on to that thought. We're going to take a hard time out here. And when we come back, we continue our legend series with Coach, you said it won't go with the legend, Josh Niblet. There you go. We'll return right after this. Welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report brought to you by Alpha Insurance. Now, back to your host, Randy Bergen. ♪♪♪ ♪ The baby's in the runnin' round and hangin' in the crowd. ♪♪ ♪ Lookin' your business in the street, I've got to tell the word. ♪♪ ♪ The silence is deafening. ♪♪ ♪♪♪ There's something grammatically expeditious about that. Silence is deafening. I'm wanting to get an English teacher to send them. That's pretty good stuff. I like that stuff. Hey, welcome back to the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report. Randy Bergen, coach Rick Cleveland, coach Mark Laster. Our legend series continues with coach Josh Niblet. Josh, I'll tell you, this has been outstanding having you on. I want to go back where we left off and you were talking about you being a pastor there. Do you have a man in Aniana? And really about what? Yep. Yep. And so, I mean, you know, that wasn't the easiest thing. I actually enter and pastor at two different churches while I was in Aniana. And I didn't do it. You know, one church, I started out in the off-season before the year we won it all and in '04, the spring of '04, I began preaching there at the church and then carried on through the fall also. And so, but, you know, God blessed me tremendously and got to be a part of a great congregation. And, you know, one of the deacons there, I got to know really, really well. And, you know, when I first met him, he had said, you know, he worked for Hoover City Schools, but I didn't think anything about it because that didn't have anything to do with me, you know, when I was at Aniana. And so, but we kept the relationship as friends. And, you know, when the opportunity came at Hoover, you know, he had reached out because they were looking for people that were going to, you know, they felt like they were going to try to go after. And, you know, I was a guy he asked if I'd be interested. And I didn't think I'd have a shot at it. I mean, really to be honest with you. But at the same time, I did leg work to reach out to other people within the community, other people that were, you know, within the Hoover, just to introduce myself. And so that's kind of how it got going. And that's how I kind of got the opportunity to get in the interview. And I knew if I got a chance to interview, then I was going to have a chance at it. And so, you interview, you get the job. What did you walk into? I mean, you know, I think it was a deal to where, you know, I knew that we had to keep winning. I just knew and maybe I wanted to do it a little bit different. And that's not to say anything about anybody. It's just that just is who I was. I mean, I've got a way in which we do what we do. We have a standard just like everybody else has a standard. And I think when I first went in there, you know, the first thing I said was, I'm not here, you know, to replace Rush, Coach Brooks. I mean, what he did there and the legacy that he left behind, you know, will always be remembered. But for me, we got a way that we're going to do it. And I laid out the standards to our players and then tried to create a bond in a relationship with them. Because I think that was the biggest thing is, how could I create a relationship? Anywhere I've ever been, I've always said this. This is not an ego deal. It's just when I first came to games, when I first went on and on and when I first went to Oxford, there's got to be one voice. There can't be 700 voices talking to the kids. There's got to be one voice. And then you've, you've got to have the vision. And then you've got to hire the staff that's going to take the focus on a day-to-day basis within the moment of magnitude to support the vision. And so for me, when I got there, it was about the vision. Here's where we are. Here's where we're going to go. And then here's how we're going to get there. And then hire the right staff that's going to support those things and create a connection with the players so we can gain a trust and a love for each other. And that's what we did. You know, Coach, the question I had for you was something I, you know, when I was a young coach, first job I had, you know, a couple of jobs was rebuilding programs. You know, that's where, you know, that's the place I want to go and rebuild a program. And then later on, I went to a program. I too followed Rush at Alma Bryant. And that was a different type of deal. It was a whole different set of circumstances. Tell us a little bit about that, about building one and then keeping it go, keeping the other good one going. Well, you know, the one thing about it, everybody always asked that trivial question of how by you is it harder to stay on top or is it harder to get there? And for me, I'm just going to be honest with you. I've had the same mindset with both. I've never done anything different at Gainesville who had missed the playoffs was five and five as I did. Hey, when I got to Hoover and, you know, they had the little, we had the little bit of deal, but it was, you know, want to state championship within the last two or three years. My same mindset, heart set, mentality, or how what we're trying to do is no different to where there we've been there. We hadn't been there because what we do is we try to rewrite the script because every chapter is different. Every team's different. I tell people all the time, I haven't lived for 52 years. I've lived one year, 52 times. And so for what I do is within my profession, when God's blessed me with every team is different. So something's got to change. And when you're on top of your game, you got to change your game. When you're not on top of your game, you got to change your game. So it's how it fits with the groups that you have. It's not about the results that they had because you're trying to learn from that. That's done. And we don't know where we're going to go. All right, we know where we are right now. And that's the only thing we could take care of. So what's happened and what we want to happen can't have anything to do with where we are. And so that's kind of how I try to approach it in every spot that I've ever been. Josh, when you got to Hoover, how long did it take you to get the staff in place that you felt comfortable with? Well, just always think it's important to whether you know whether you're going to bring somebody back or not or whatever, but you have to sit down and you've got to interview everybody. You owe it to everybody. Every place I've ever been, I'm sat down with every guy that was on the staff before. And because you don't know, I mean, you can go off of, I'm just not a, that's been the hardest thing for me in Georgia. Honestly, it's because you have to go off what maybe some other people say based off of you knowing them before you sit down and interview with them. And so you're trying to create relationships. So you can gain a trust bond and a care bond for each other, but know them a little bit more. And so, you know, I think the biggest thing was is when I sat down, I knew from an offensive perspective because I'm still highly involved with our offense, still call our offense. So I knew when I went there, that's what I do. I knew Chad was coming with me, my brother. I knew I had a couple other guys that I wanted to have with me. Kevin Sharer was a defense coordinator at Hoover and Kevin and I played together at Alabama. So there was a relationship there. Jeremy Perkins was a special teams coordinator. Really love Jeremy and what he did. Danny Kimball was in the secondary. I think we hired one guy defensively, D line wise, and that was Todd Evans, but everybody else stayed. And then the only guy, and it had nothing to do with guys not being good coaches or whatever, it's just I had a set of guys offensively that I wanted to try to be able to bring with me. And the one guy that was left with me was Sean Sutton. You know, the guy that I created a great relationship through that transition with that actually went to last through to be the head coach was Chip Lindsey because he was the offensive coordinator there. Kevin Rose was there at that time. And you know, it was just it had nothing to do with any of that. It was just, Hey, I had a set kind of set of guys that I wanted to try to bring in, but I sat down and talked with everybody. And I think you've got to do that with all the staff. Well, so you get all settled in there and you start winning and winning big. What kind of pressure did you feel in the latter years at Hoover? What kind of pressure did you feel to keep the train on the track? Well, here's the thing. My wife will tell you this, man. Nobody puts more pressure on me than I put on myself. Sure. Nobody. Yeah. I mean, nobody. And I ain't scared to lose them. That's why I'll play anybody anywhere anytime. I'm not because I think that's how you push the envelope because the winner's destination ultimate destination probably is to lose because he's always going to push the envelope. And for to do what we did at Hoover, you know, my last year there, you know, to be able to kind of get over that hump and the beat Thompson, you know, the last game of the year, but then knowing, Hey, we got to play him again. And then, and then we don't beat him. You know, I think you knew every year kind of what it was going to kind of boil down to. And so, you know, that was something that I don't mind telling anybody to say whatever they want, but if you're a competitor, that one competitor, you know, you got to beat. I mean, that's on your mind because that's the one you know, you got to beat if you want to get there, you know. And so, I think we were a lot on their mind before also because they knew, Hey, the road is going to go through either Thompson's going to go through Hoover. And so whoever wins that game is going to be the one that's going to get there. And, and I think that was probably the biggest thing that, you know, I've always tried to be a guy that we worry about us and what we're doing. But also, at the same time, it's like, you know, thinking to yourself, like, you don't want to have anxiety as far as whether you're going to perform or not before performance. You know, I mean, so we got to have great preparation. And I think that's the one thing that kept us consistent. There is our prep, you know, it didn't matter who we were playing, but how we prepped led to our performances on Friday. And that's why we were able to win a lot of games. And I tell people, you know, 14 years we were there, you know, nine of those we played for it, six of them we won, two out of the nine that we should have had seven, we lost by one, and we made it to the semis all 14 years. And so, you know, there were some things that we did well that I felt like our kids believed in also. You did it as well as anybody's ever done it in this state. That's right. You sure did. And as we leave here, I want you to, to kind of tell us I've said all along that the best high school football in the south is in South Georgia and in certain parts of Florida. And Alabama is still behind. I still believe that because as far as competition is concerned, there are a number of teams in where you're playing football now that can win a state championship to level your play in that. Agreed or disagree? Well, you know, I mean, you know, I think you remember back when Alabama was going through reclassification, we just went through reclassification here. So the team that wanted in six eight or wanted in seven eight, you know, last year is now five eight in our region, Milton. And so not only did they not, you know, we went to six classifications now there in five eight there in our region, Rosville, the team we played two years ago in the semifinals there in our region. You know, we could, we're, our state has been renovated. So we only have three home games, our first four on the road. I mean, we got Marietta, who's six A, we're going to Moody, who I know has got a great program, got a lot of players that have moved in. And so, you know, then, you know, we got Westlake, you know, in Atlanta, that's a powerhouse here in six A and then we got Carrollton on the road that six A and then play our region. And so I'm just telling you here, where it is, is like schools on top of schools, players on top of players. You know, I have to drive more than three minutes to find a really, really good program and some really, really good players who are being coached really, really well. So I think that's probably the biggest thing in Georgia, but it's been awesome. And I'm enjoying it. But I do miss you guys, man. Coach, I tell you, we miss you too. And it's been fun having you on our legend series. We're going to have you back on. We'll be following you through this season. Thanks again for taking time to be with us and good luck this year. Well, thank you guys, God bless you and look you guys, man. And I pray God's blessing on you and your family. Thank you, pal. There you go. Coach Josh, Niblet, legend series. When we come back, Mark has a camp brace segment right here as the Thompson Tractor's Prep Sports Report rolls on. This segment of the Thompson Tractor Prep Sports Report brought to you by Camp Grace. Now back to Coach Rick Cleveland. Camp Grace is located in West Mobile is the summer home of Camp Rappahope, Camp Mash, Camp Smile and Camp Sugar Falls, as well as the home of Outback Mobile and is shared by many other community organizations throughout the Mobile Area. Camp Grace is a place where God's love is bestowed freely upon others, the true definition of God's grace. You know as I was thinking about the grace segment today, I was thinking about something that I've dealt with in my life. And I guess I probably have to deal with it every day, Rick. You know, I just, one of those things and it's a called pride, my own personal pride, pride and me in what I do. And I say that to let you know that all of us have an ego. All of us have something that we feel like we do well and we feel like we can be very good at. But there's also a place in there of humility that we've got to have to balance that out. Because pride can take us places we don't want to go. It does for me. And if we lose sight of what we're really doing, it'll take us to places that we don't need to be and we're not going to be very effective in what God had actually called us to do. You know, in the Bible and 2 Corinthians, there's a story of Ziah who was actually one of the Judas, better kings. He became king when he was only 16 years old. He had a long reign that was full of military victories. He was one of the few kings who had a personal relationship with God and was successful due to him having that personal relationship with God and allowing God to guide his path. Yet he started to grow proud and he went against God's law. He was proud because of his power and his victories and his strength that God had given him. He decided that he would offer incense up to God, something God had commanded that only the priest should do. When the priest resisted his eye and tried to tell him that it was not his place, he grew angry with them. While he was arguing with the priest who had dared to go against him, God cursed him with leprosy and he was forced to live by himself for the rest of his life. What is the moral of that story set in long ago, ancient Judah, the moral of that story? The purpose is so we can learn from King Yisiah's example. His success was because of God giving him the power to do the things that he had done and not because of his own strength or his own power. When he lost that edge of God's power and God said, "Let me show you what you are where you can go." He got leprosy, which meant he would have to live by himself for the rest of his life. We have to learn from our bad examples. When we read that bad example we read there in Corinthians, we understand that Yisiah's pride cost him his kingship, cost him and the whole story there is for us to know that pride doesn't have to be overruling an entire nation or ruling a school or a community or a state or anything. It could just be in your relationship with your wife or your children or your parents. However it is, if your pride becomes so that you feel like you are the one who has done everything and your power is such that you can just go ahead and do whatever you want regardless of God's law, God can always find a way to put you back in your place. You know, it's funny. No, it's not funny. It's very serious, but I can remember Coach Kay, the basketball coach at Duke, for so many years talking about pride. And he said, "Pride has to do with one thing and one thing only and it has to do with self-respect." How much do you respect yourself for the way you live your life on and off the court? And what is the feeling that you get from a particular accomplishment? Is it one where you go out and boast about it? That's not worth the time that you spend to talk about it. Is how much you respect yourself and you respect the game and you're proud of the accomplishment that has taken you to the point where you want to get to to be as good as you can be, not only in your sport, but in your life. And the Bible talks about pride a lot. It tells lots and lots of stories about pride. And when you talk about pride when it comes to your teams, you know, those teams that respect each other. And Coach Saban talked about this all the time, indirectly. You know, if you don't respect that guy that's next to you, the guy that's playing next to you, then you can always do everything you can to make up for what he can't do by you trying to do what he can't do and do what you do. Pride comes before the fall. And that's why those teams that are successful have enough pride in their teammates and their coaches. And when they say pride, we're talking self-respect. And that scripture is all about self-respect. So, well, you hit home with that, Mark. That's good stuff. And that's, you know, I think about playing in the golf tournament tomorrow and I don't know if I respect my game enough to win. Come watch mine then. Hey, I gotta tell you, it's been, it's been a fun show today. It's been great to have Turner here with us. And, uh, Turner, you want to say this is your opportunity to say hey to your daddy real quick. You better say it too now, because that's your coach. Yes, you pull that mic up. There you go. You better just say good morning, dad. Good morning, dad. I love you. I love you. There you go. That's been a great show. Guys, it has been a great show, but you got another great show coming up. Go have a big show. Your Southern Fairways is on the road today. So, thankful to all of our guests. I appreciate you being here. Remember this, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, he is always with you.