Gwynn & Chris On Demand

Aztecs Head Coach Sean Lewis talks about what fans should look forward to this year

The Aztecs football team is just over a month away from starting their season and Head Coach Sean Lewis is ready to get to work. He joined Gwynn & Chris to talk about what fans should be looking for, what kind of values he instills, and how much does he sleep?!

Duration:: 16m
Broadcast on:: 26 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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Hey, great to have you on the show. We appreciate it. And give us a little update. I can't believe it's like just a tad more than a month before you get to play your first game. And I imagine you're about ready to run through a wall right now. Yeah, guys, it's exciting. I mean, obviously there's been a ton of work that's been done by the staff. And more importantly, the kids, you know, ever since we got rolling in January here. But the guys will finish up our eight-week summer conditioning phase tomorrow morning with one last run with Coach Sobel. And then we'll have an extended weekend for a little bit of R&R to get refreshed and get their minds right. And we'll report to camp, you know, next week. And then shoot a week from the day. We'll get rocking and rolling and maximize, you know, the month of August that we have to get right and to become a team and to be able to go out and execute and defend our home turf on August 31st. That's snapdragon against a really good Texas A&M Commerce team. Coach, let me ask you now that you've had this job for a while and you look back at the first, I don't know, six months or so since you've been hired. What about the job has been kind of what you expected? And what about the job has maybe surprised you a little bit over the first six months, something maybe you weren't expecting as much? Yeah, I mean, the number one thing that jumped the mind is the tremendous support of the administration and President de la Torre and obviously how important athletics are to the fabric of our university. I knew that was going to be the case, but to have their support, to have their encouragement, and to have their backing with all the things that we feel like we need to do to consistently bring championships, you know, here home to the Mesa. Again, that has been outstanding. You know, the thing that, you know, probably maybe was a bit of a surprise, you know, I was probably pretty naive to think that, hey, coming to San Diego, you know, not a small college town, maybe able to, you know, blend in a little bit more. And kind of get lost on, you know, a little bit of downtime that that I have or that my staff has. And it's just been amazing everywhere that we go, you know, with the support of the community. You're not blending in at all. And the staff ain't blending in. Our players aren't blending in. Everyone is dying to have a winner and to pack snap dragon and to have an exciting brand of football in all three phases. So, you know, that was probably just a little bit more naive to take on my part. Think of that, you know, hey, in the big city, be able to escape a little bit. But man, that is a welcome surprise and, you know, greatly, greatly embrace that. Talking to the Aztecs football head coach Sean Lewis here on 97 through the fan. And I got two questions for you. One very serious question or they're not serious questions, but one's kind of a joke question. How much sleep do you get? Because you have incredible energy. And I need to learn your secret if you're not getting that much sleep. I'm at my best when I can get about six, six and a half hours of sleep. So, typically, I'm pretty regimented and by about 10, 30, 10, 45, I'm down and then the alarm's going off about 434, 45 to go. You know, but again, we were just talking about it as a staff. Actually, yesterday, you know, just find it a ways that are unique to yourself to keep your energy up because we are in the energy transfer business, right? And we got to be full so we can pour into these kids, you know, so just, hey, whether that's daily reading, so I enjoy doing that and enjoy working out. Like, those are things that keep my battery up, keep me, you know, energized and charged. And it's pretty easy when you got a great group of young men that you get to pour into and not be a fabulous spot like San Diego State to do it. Well, thank you for entertaining that question, Coach Lewis. My actual question is going to be this one. As Chris said, the season's almost here. What are the most intriguing storylines for Aztecs fans to keep an eye on during preseason camp? Yeah, I mean, the two biggest things are, you know, how we continue to grow and improve and come together along both of our fronts, the offensive line of the defensive line. I'm a big believer that the game is one there as much as the game has evolved and all the changes and trends that are going on. There's still a physicality that needs to be established along both the offensive line and the defensive line. So, you know, excited for the new pieces that we've added, excited for the guys who, you know, were held out during spring practice because of injuries and things like that to have everyone up and available to really fortify and to build the physicality of our team along both lines. It's going to be a great storyline to pay close attention to. And then the other piece is, you know, it doesn't matter what level of ball it is. You need a quarterback. And, you know, we got a very deep quarterback room and the competition in there is going to be fierce and looking forward to see who comes out of that quarterback competition, you know, as our starter and it's going to be our guys. We go forward. Sean Lewis is with us. And just a quick aside, Coach, you mentioned you got up at 4.30 every day. You have to get up at 4.30 every day. If you're going to be a surf pro like you're heading towards, you saw your clip of your surfing. But, you know, it's great to see you, you know, just jump into the San Diego into this community. And I think, you know, the people have welcomed you because you have welcomed San Diego. And, yeah, I think everybody really is excited to buy your presence in this team. You look around the conference. You're obviously new coach. There's eight new coaches total in this conference in the mountain west. I know you're still looking on opening day. But as you look down the road a little bit, is it a little difficult to get a read on exactly what we're up against this year? Or are you just going to focus on your club for now? Yeah, I mean, it's probably a little bit of coach speak, but I'm always going to be more obsessed and about my club. And that's always going to be top of mind. But to your point, yeah, I mean, it's a little bit of chasing ghosts in the unknown within the conference, not only with the eight new coaches within the league, but then also, you know, all the roster turnover that has taken place because of the new coaches and the transfer portal and the different pieces that have come and gone. So, yeah, I think it's always critically important to, you know, again, obsess about, you know, your team and, you know, the impact that you can have within your own building. And then regardless of who happens to be the next great faceless opponent that's going to line up across from us, you do your due diligence and you give them the respect of us preparing for them throughout the course of the week. But, you know, our plan to win is about the things that we can control. And those are the people and what we do and how we do it within our building. We're talking to Aztecs football head coach Sean Lewis here on 97 3 the fan and last one for me coach. Thank you so much for the time. We had three of your players in studio a few weeks ago to kind of observe our radio show and just learn what it's all about. Learn kind of what the media ins and outs are. And I think it's awesome that they did that and they have interest outside of football. Do you encourage guys to do things like that and look ahead to life after or outside football? Absolutely, and I think that's one of the tremendous advantages of our great city, right, is where we have all these tremendous opportunities. Whether it's coming into the studio with you guys and being able to learn that craft or one of the other numerous companies or relationships that we have within the community so that guys can always kind of be thinking about life after ball, right? I mean, whether that is when they're done here on the Mesa playing their last nap or it's after a great NFL career, I mean, at the end of the day, you're going to look up and there's a whole, you know, another chapter that needs to be written. And I want our guys, you know, to be elite in all things that they do and obviously to do a great job, you know, on the field, but I don't want them to be defined just as football players. Playing football is something that they do, but I want them to be well-rounded young men and, you know, just get out in the community as much as possible, grow with shadow ships, internships, those opportunities, they're second to none. That, again, I feel very fortunate that we're able to provide because of support within our community. It's second to none. I can tell you, right off the hand, coach Dale Sean Staley, your new safety from Kansas City. If you need somebody to call out your defensive signals, he's got a pretty good voice. Because he did a good job in studio and he was very inquisitive and, you know, very much fun to hang around. They asked a ton of questions. They were great. They were really great. It was a lot of fun having them in here. Last thing, coach, and again, thanks so much for the time because you are so busy for sure, but the fans want to know this. I mean, your four and eight last year, et cetera, this happened, but the Aztecs had won the ten games. The nine games had been to Bulls. Can you put any cap on how much of a turnaround you can have in one season? What is your attitude and what is your whole theory as you kind of talk to the people around San Diego and how much you'd like to get done here early? Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing for us is to maximize each and every single day. You know, we have a mantra that we've installed and, you know, established since day one called be the alpha. And we define that as improving and competing today, right, to stack all these plus one days. And that's really what it's about, right, to be in the present, to improve and become a better version of yourself. Dain and day out, compete against yourself, compete against your brothers in the building so that iron sharpened iron as we go forward. And I think it'd be unfair to the kids right now to say, "Hey, we're a bull team. We're a six-win team. We're a seven-win team." You know, when I don't know by, you know, the end of camp and where we're going to be a month from now, you know, what that looks like. And I don't want to put a ceiling on this crew. I think we got a tremendous, you know, group of young men that are exceptional in all areas of their life. I'm very fortunate with the staff. We've been able to bring here and excited to do the work, day in and day out. And, you know, when we look up at the end of this thing, I think we're going to like where we're at. Well, we were really happy to have you, Coach, and speaking for the rest of the Aztecs for life that are listening to the show, that's me Aztecs for life and really excited to have you personally. Look forward to going out and seeing your club play and hopefully catching up with you during the season. Thanks for giving us an update. We really appreciate the time. Yeah, guys. Thanks for the opportunity. Go Aztecs. You betcha. There you go. Sean Lewis. I do it while making coffee. I do it in the car. I do it when the kids are asleep. What are they all doing? Using Derma Clara's 100% medical grade silicone patches, safe, natural and effective, these patches start showing results in just 20 minutes per use. Jessica saw her fine lines fade in a week and Megan's stretch marks disappeared within a month. Derma Clara patches are reusable and easy to use. They deliver visible improvements in 30 days with just one ingredient. Visit dermaclara.com today and transform your skin any time anywhere. 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