Speaker 1: This week on the Happy Half Hour, we're also kind
Speaker 1: of the death spot now where all of that planning
Speaker 1: and all of that intangible stuff has now become real.
Speaker 1: We now have a Frank Criick. We now have a
Speaker 1: head coach, and it's what's his stamp on this team
Speaker 1: gonna be? What's his staff gonna look like? And all
Speaker 1: that stuff's gonna flow in over the next couple of
Speaker 1: days and weeks. TEXTA, It's time for the Happy Half
Speaker 1: Hour with your friends Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone and Darren Gannon.
Speaker 1: It's that time of the week. It's the Happy half
Speaker 1: Hour podcast and the podcast is presented by Prowling Vineyards
Speaker 1: Napa Valley, which is the official wine brand and wine
Speaker 1: club of the Carolina Panthers. These premiums elections celebrate the
Speaker 1: great people of the Carolinas and the Panthers hunger to
Speaker 1: achieve excellence on and off the field. You can learn
Speaker 1: more at Prowling Vineyards dot com. It is your friends, Kristen,
Speaker 1: Darren and august and we have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: We took a few weeks off after the end of
Speaker 1: the season, but now feels like a great time to
Speaker 1: bring the Happy Half Hour Podcast back because if you
Speaker 1: if you haven't heard, the Carolina Panthers have a head
Speaker 1: coach and his name is Frank Reich. Big news, big news,
Speaker 1: big news. We're all just a little this is um.
Speaker 1: I'll just say this. We're recording this at ten am
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, and we're all a little bleary eyed. We
Speaker 1: had the press conference yesterday and all that that entails.
Speaker 1: We've been preparing. Some of us went on Thursday night
Speaker 1: to Frank's daughter's house to do an interview. So it's
Speaker 1: been quite the weekend, quite an exciting weekend. But um,
Speaker 1: I will say it was hard to get out of
Speaker 1: bed this morning. Guys. Yeah, days like the day to
Speaker 1: unpack all the liftovers. It's like, you know, it's almost
Speaker 1: like day after Christmas, day after Thanksgiving? You make a
Speaker 1: nice turkey sandwich. Do we do with all this stuff
Speaker 1: that's here now? So it's uh, yeah, it's quite a
Speaker 1: month and it's Coaching searches are always a little um
Speaker 1: exhausting anyway, because they come at the end of a
Speaker 1: long season and with the season stretching out the way
Speaker 1: it has in recent years, seventeen games, eighteen weeks plus
Speaker 1: training camp plus all the other stuff. You get to
Speaker 1: the end and you're tired anyway, and then it's like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: we've got three and a half more weeks of stuff
Speaker 1: to worry about and prep for and playing and do
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. So by the time you
Speaker 1: finally get to that point, it is like, but they've
Speaker 1: made a decision, and it's and it's Frank Reich, and
Speaker 1: he was in the building. He's been in the building
Speaker 1: the last few days and certainly did the whole the
Speaker 1: whole media thing. What I thought would be interesting for
Speaker 1: everyone is to kind of go through a little timeline
Speaker 1: of behind the scenes. I think that's something that this
Speaker 1: this podcast does well. Um and um, you know about
Speaker 1: what our experience has been and how we prepare for
Speaker 1: all of this, and you know, August, there's just such
Speaker 1: a savvy old vet at this point, the first NFL
Speaker 1: season and you have been through I mean, like I said,
Speaker 1: you're never going to forget your first NFL season, although
Speaker 1: this is tech quickly your second, but you've really you've
Speaker 1: covered just about everything, You've had a first time for
Speaker 1: everything within just one season. So there's very few things
Speaker 1: that you'll you won't be prepared for and won't have
Speaker 1: experienced UM in the coming seasons exactly. And I honestly
Speaker 1: there's a part of that that's super comforting to be
Speaker 1: so young in my career and be able to go
Speaker 1: through all of this UM. All that's left is free agency.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm telling myself. On's like, my god, I've
Speaker 1: done everything. I feel like I've been here for seven
Speaker 1: free agencies right in like a way. But yeah, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's what you got, free agencies. Nothing but you
Speaker 1: started a training camp. Yeah. But it's it's I mean,
Speaker 1: it's been awesome. It's it's been really cool, and it's
Speaker 1: February one. January was a long month and a short
Speaker 1: month all at once, because you look back and you're like,
Speaker 1: so much happened. I'm really big on like at the
Speaker 1: end of months looking back, especially at my work, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, what all did I write? What all
Speaker 1: did I do? And I'm like, oh my goodness, like
Speaker 1: thinking where I was January feet in January two and
Speaker 1: looking at the catalog of things that have happened, but
Speaker 1: also how quickly it felt like it flew by. I
Speaker 1: do a similar thing and our boss Bill makes fun
Speaker 1: of me for this, although it's it's easier for you
Speaker 1: to to do because everything you do is in writing.
Speaker 1: I save my notes, not from everything, but you know,
Speaker 1: I had, for instance, I hosted some panels yesterday and
Speaker 1: I had UM cards with the panther head on them
Speaker 1: and stuff, and I will put those in a little
Speaker 1: file and save them because you look back a few
Speaker 1: months later and you go, gosh, we did this on
Speaker 1: this day, and this on this day and this the
Speaker 1: next day. And I guess I could pull up my
Speaker 1: video footage, but that would be weird. So I said,
Speaker 1: I like to look back as well, especially because you're
Speaker 1: caught up in all of it, and you know it
Speaker 1: can just you forget. Oh yeah, and in that week
Speaker 1: in January you wrote what eight articles and Gusta and
Speaker 1: you you know, and three and one day and all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Darren, how do you categorize before
Speaker 1: we get into everything, how do you categorize? Um? Big events? Um?
Speaker 1: I have You've seen my desk, you know what it
Speaker 1: looks like. There is much paper on my desk. I've
Speaker 1: contributed to the deforestation and of at least a couple
Speaker 1: of counties. Um it. I tend to stack things up
Speaker 1: and and stick them in boxes and drawers. At some
Speaker 1: point later, there are three big boxes in the corner
Speaker 1: of Bill's office full of my old notebooks from the tens,
Speaker 1: and so I am a hoarder of stuff, so things
Speaker 1: tend to stack up, and and that's how I remember it.
Speaker 1: But I told I told Augusta early on in January said, congratulations,
Speaker 1: this is the first time you're going to write a
Speaker 1: lot of stories that never see the light of day.
Speaker 1: Because all the all the stories about Frank Craik that
Speaker 1: we did use were coupled with all the stories that
Speaker 1: we did not use, and there was a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: And being prepped for a coaching search means being prepared
Speaker 1: to throw a lot of stuff away. So we called
Speaker 1: the content graveyard, and there's a lot of stuff in it,
Speaker 1: and that's just kind of the nature of the thing.
Speaker 1: But you have to be ready if it's coach ABC
Speaker 1: or D and just ready to push the button. And
Speaker 1: we were are prepared. I think that that was something
Speaker 1: I was just going to clarify as well. If you're listening,
Speaker 1: if you've been listening for a long time, you probably understand.
Speaker 1: But for those who don't know, Darren is saying there's
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that doesn't see the light of
Speaker 1: day because you're preparing for different eventualities, not because something
Speaker 1: can't go out or something like that. What Darren is
Speaker 1: explaining is, you know there was a coaching tracker on
Speaker 1: the website. Um, that's generally as much as as we know.
Speaker 1: So we prepare for a lot of different eventualities because
Speaker 1: also time is of the essence when something gets announced,
Speaker 1: essentially in this holding pattern for a few weeks or
Speaker 1: however long it takes to decide, and you want to
Speaker 1: be prepared, you know, you start doing your research on
Speaker 1: on different candidates, and so of course the stuff that,
Speaker 1: um that isn't relevant doesn't make it. Yeah, and I'll
Speaker 1: put it in the file with all those stories about
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that never showed up care and different free agents
Speaker 1: who never arrived and stuff like that. I mean, and
Speaker 1: it that's just kind of part of the deal. That's
Speaker 1: part of what we have to do. But it is
Speaker 1: interesting now that it almost feels like we're changing gears
Speaker 1: today and it is very much that Thanksgiving left over
Speaker 1: kind of day, Like okay, all right, now, what I
Speaker 1: don't start planning for Christmas, going to have to cook
Speaker 1: again soon? What are the ingredients left in the refrigerators? So, uh,
Speaker 1: today is a big day for us. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: on a white board and start talking about what the
Speaker 1: rist of February and March is gonna look like. So that's, uh,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be part of our day. But we're also
Speaker 1: kind of that that spot now where all of that
Speaker 1: planning and all of that intangible stuff has now become real.
Speaker 1: We now have a Frank Criick, We now have a
Speaker 1: head coach, and it's you know, it's what's he gonna
Speaker 1: what's his stamp on this team gonna be? What's his
Speaker 1: staff gonna look like? And all that stuff is gonna
Speaker 1: flow in over the next couple of days and weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's funny. I was talking to Scott Finerary yesterday, maybe
Speaker 1: the day before, you know, all the days we're together,
Speaker 1: as we were going through what day is even I
Speaker 1: don't know when I said February first. I was like,
Speaker 1: it is February. Now, that's good to know. Staring to
Speaker 1: my laptop two so don't I had no I'm staring
Speaker 1: right here at the very top corner that says wed
Speaker 1: Feb One, Webb One talks about how my brain sounds
Speaker 1: right now. One. I was talking to Scott a couple
Speaker 1: of days ago and he said, after after the press conference, oh,
Speaker 1: we get to get back to football. He was going
Speaker 1: down to Mobile, Alabama UM for the Senior Bowl with
Speaker 1: some members of the Panthers front office and staff, and
Speaker 1: you're right, it is it. The press conference is over.
Speaker 1: It is turning the page, and so we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about all of that. But I do think it
Speaker 1: would be fun to go back a little bit to
Speaker 1: to some of the behind the scenes of what it
Speaker 1: looks like from each of our perspectives when we hire
Speaker 1: a new head coach. So, as we said during the
Speaker 1: coaching search, you know, we're all kind of wait. It's like,
Speaker 1: don't make any plans, don't go too far, anything like that.
Speaker 1: And so we get the news that it's it's going
Speaker 1: to be Frank Reich right around the time that everyone
Speaker 1: else gets the news. And I had a fun day
Speaker 1: on Thursday because we got word And this is something
Speaker 1: that's that's really neat and it's a privileged UM and
Speaker 1: it's a testament to our leadership that this happens with
Speaker 1: the Panthers because as far as I know, this isn't
Speaker 1: really the norm. A group of us got to go
Speaker 1: to Frank Reich's daughter's house. She happens to live in Charlotte,
Speaker 1: and that is where he was going to be after
Speaker 1: UM agreeing with the Panthers and UM our photographer Chanelle
Speaker 1: got to take photos, our videographers got to shoot some stuff,
Speaker 1: and I got to do an interview with him UM,
Speaker 1: which was really really neat. So we did a just
Speaker 1: a get to know interview and then we also did
Speaker 1: this walk down memory lane with memorabilia from the season,
Speaker 1: which I especially enjoyed. I'm sure if you're listening to
Speaker 1: this by now, you know that he was the or
Speaker 1: you have known for twenty five years, now thirty years,
Speaker 1: that he was the first UM Panthers quarterback. He through
Speaker 1: the first touchdown pass, So we got to go through
Speaker 1: some of that stuff that he had never seen before.
Speaker 1: And the Reichs welcomed us in to UM their daughter's home,
Speaker 1: and it was just it was really neat to get
Speaker 1: to see them. And the thing that is stuck out
Speaker 1: to me, and I think Panthers fans will appreciate this.
Speaker 1: We felt like there was a very small group of
Speaker 1: us there, and it was like, if you're celebrating, you
Speaker 1: think about with your family a birthday or um, a
Speaker 1: promotion or whatever it was. It was a very uh
Speaker 1: intimate celebration at his daughter's house. It was just her
Speaker 1: and her husband and Frank c Reik and his wife Linda,
Speaker 1: and um. They had like a little charcuterie board set out.
Speaker 1: You could tell that they were celebrating as a family
Speaker 1: and they have a lot to celebrate about. In addition
Speaker 1: to him getting this job, something that was very near
Speaker 1: and dear to my heart. His other two daughters live
Speaker 1: in Greensboro with their families, and so now as a family,
Speaker 1: they are all going to be able to live full
Speaker 1: time in the same state. Frank Reich and his daughter.
Speaker 1: I gotta stop saying Frank Reich too. It's just a
Speaker 1: nice It's like a good name that has like a
Speaker 1: double name. But I gotta go to Frank. Uh. Frank
Speaker 1: and Linda have four grandchildren and so they're going to
Speaker 1: get to be around them. And something very similar happens
Speaker 1: to my family. We've all lived all spread out, my
Speaker 1: brothers and I and then within the last few years,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm the furthest away now in Charlotte, about two
Speaker 1: hours away, and for my mom and my dad to
Speaker 1: be able to watch their grandchildren all grow up together
Speaker 1: as a very special moment. So that was something that
Speaker 1: was very touching to me. Um And it was really
Speaker 1: a privilege to get to to kind of get a
Speaker 1: peek into the family life there and what this really
Speaker 1: meant for everyone. So I thought, I thought fans would
Speaker 1: really appreciate that. It was something that I'll certainly remember, sure,
Speaker 1: And Frank's got He's got such history here. He kind
Speaker 1: of laughed when when we spoke on Monday, the day
Speaker 1: before the press conference, I was just talking as we
Speaker 1: walked through the hall from one place to the next.
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, you you and I actually spoke
Speaker 1: class back in the spring, because when we were doing
Speaker 1: Sam Mills stuff for Hall of Fame. I called him
Speaker 1: up and talked to him about playing with Sam and everything,
Speaker 1: and Frank kind of left. He said, I actually do
Speaker 1: remember that, and I was like, oh, yeah, I'm sure
Speaker 1: it was the highlight of your spring. Of course, talking
Speaker 1: to some guy in Charlotte about, you know, something that
Speaker 1: happened twenty eight years ago. But he he says and
Speaker 1: he was kind about it and said he actually did
Speaker 1: remember it, but he doesn't mind talking about a lot
Speaker 1: of that stuff. And it was such a brief moment
Speaker 1: of time. He was able to, uh make a pretty
Speaker 1: big impact in a short amount of time. And one
Speaker 1: of my favorite things about the build up to this
Speaker 1: was talking to Carry Collins, who was the rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: who eventually and everybody knew was going to inevitably replace Frank.
Speaker 1: When we were going through the all the memorability, he
Speaker 1: was like, we all knew Carrie was yeah, and everybody knew.
Speaker 1: But I thought it was so cool in talking to Carry,
Speaker 1: who's now living in Nashville and he settled down. He's
Speaker 1: kind of got a farm there, coaching in high school football,
Speaker 1: raising kids. Um. But Carry said it didn't hit him
Speaker 1: at the time because Carrie had his own journey in football.
Speaker 1: He was a first round pick. Uh, he matured during
Speaker 1: the time he was here and after he left here
Speaker 1: and and sees things differently now than he did maybe
Speaker 1: when he was a rookie in n But Carrie talked
Speaker 1: about there was a point in his career in two
Speaker 1: thousand and six when the Titans brought him in late
Speaker 1: in training camp two basically be the veteran mentor for
Speaker 1: their first round pick, Vince Young and and Carrie kind
Speaker 1: of caught himself and he said, I knew what to
Speaker 1: do in Tennessee because of Frank. I knew how to
Speaker 1: handle that role because I saw it with my own
Speaker 1: two eyes and I lived it every day. And you know,
Speaker 1: carry kind of acknowledged. He probably didn't appreciate it at
Speaker 1: the time, but with a decade of perspective, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: here's how you're supposed to fill that role. Here's how
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be that guy. Because I watched Frank
Speaker 1: Craig do it. That's really that's really neat. And you
Speaker 1: know what, he was not hired because of his connections
Speaker 1: to Charlotte or North Carolina certainly, but it is neat
Speaker 1: to see someone, uh appreciate the history that is here
Speaker 1: and um, we all live here, and certainly Darren and
Speaker 1: I grew up in North Carolina. And it's nice, you know,
Speaker 1: when you've got someone that that appreciates what it means
Speaker 1: to to be here. It's just it's the cherry on
Speaker 1: top right of of everything. And so it's been it's
Speaker 1: been neat to see um how excited they are. And
Speaker 1: then also here the history a little bit. It is
Speaker 1: really special. Yeah, I've always said anytime I've got an
Speaker 1: excuse to talk to Dom Capers, that's a good day.
Speaker 1: You know, Don's just one of the great people in
Speaker 1: the business. And and when I talked to Bill Polly
Speaker 1: and whose first gm UM, Bill was pretty upfront about saying,
Speaker 1: you know, Frank's just one of those great people in
Speaker 1: the business. And he equated him to tell him, he
Speaker 1: equated him to Marv Levy, he equated him to uh,
Speaker 1: Dom Capers, and he's just like, that's that's who he is.
Speaker 1: He's just that kind of quality character. And anybody that's
Speaker 1: every encountered Dom kind of knows that Dom carried himself
Speaker 1: a certain way, was very regimented, was very direct, was
Speaker 1: very together. And that's kind of what Frank presented yesterday
Speaker 1: in that press conference. I mean, you know, exactly going
Speaker 1: in what to expect out of a Frank Wright team,
Speaker 1: you know exactly what he expects people to be like.
Speaker 1: I think another thing that I would want fans to know,
Speaker 1: and I I said this yesterday and I've I've certainly
Speaker 1: said it um to two people that we worked with,
Speaker 1: is that when when the news came out, the news broke,
Speaker 1: I got multiple text messages right away from several people
Speaker 1: that had worked with him, UM, and they said, you
Speaker 1: all are going to to love him and his family
Speaker 1: and he's a great person, great co worker, great leader,
Speaker 1: um and and I said, oh, you know, thank you
Speaker 1: so much. And then the text messages kept on coming in,
Speaker 1: you know, the praise and stuff. And I think that's
Speaker 1: a great sign. And if I were a fan, I
Speaker 1: would want to know that. You know, there's still or
Speaker 1: as as Darren said, there's going to be a lot
Speaker 1: that comes out over the next few days. There so
Speaker 1: a lot of decisions to be made. Were now turning
Speaker 1: the page to three, and there's all the football stuff
Speaker 1: that that has to happen. But I think that's a
Speaker 1: great start to to know that the people that he
Speaker 1: has worked with for long periods of time, and I
Speaker 1: was not the only person I know around our team,
Speaker 1: certainly a lot of people got messages like that and
Speaker 1: calls like that. So UM, I just think that's a
Speaker 1: that's a really great start. So Augusta take us through
Speaker 1: Monday Tuesday, with Tuesday being the big press conference day,
Speaker 1: and not just the press conference that you saw, but
Speaker 1: there were a lot of um of photo ops and UM,
Speaker 1: you know, opportunities for him to meet the staff and
Speaker 1: things like that. So what's it been like from your perspective. Yes,
Speaker 1: So right after it happened, I actually got in contact
Speaker 1: with his brother, who coaches at Wingett nearby. He's been
Speaker 1: there for over two decades, and that was really that
Speaker 1: was kind of the first taste of me getting to
Speaker 1: know the right family. UM. I talked with him on Friday,
Speaker 1: gave me thirty minutes of his time, and I thought
Speaker 1: it was very general risk because today is national signing
Speaker 1: day for college and so he he told me he goes. Uh.
Speaker 1: When Frank got higher down in Carolina. UM, on Thursday,
Speaker 1: my phone kept buzzing. I'm talking to recruits and I
Speaker 1: have to turn off my phone because it's like distracting me.
Speaker 1: I didn't even think he said he turned on his
Speaker 1: phone too. He told me exactly one thirty four text
Speaker 1: messages like oh, your brother's coming to the Panthers and
Speaker 1: he was so out of it. But UM, he was
Speaker 1: really generous with his time. UM just telling me stories
Speaker 1: about how UM just kind of the whole right, family
Speaker 1: sort of picked Charlotte as their second at home. I mean,
Speaker 1: so he's there. Their sister also lives in Greensboro. Obviously
Speaker 1: his daughter's and and so. Um. But but one of
Speaker 1: the things I guess just getting to know Frank obviously
Speaker 1: Darren and I got to speak with him on Monday
Speaker 1: for the first time. Watching his press conference on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: it kinda hearkened back to some of his background in Charlotte. Um,
Speaker 1: when they were here. He said yesterday that his family
Speaker 1: had settled here between when he stopped playing think it
Speaker 1: was in and when he went started coaching his first
Speaker 1: stint with the cult. He spent thirteen years here and
Speaker 1: a lot of that was actually spent um in seminary
Speaker 1: and becoming a pastor. And it's it's interesting, like whenever
Speaker 1: I was watching that press conference, it felt, you know,
Speaker 1: I felt that energy at times, especially you know, he
Speaker 1: had all those regimented you know, this is a five
Speaker 1: step program to this and a fourth step theory to this,
Speaker 1: and it felt like I was in you know, in
Speaker 1: a church viewers sometimes you know, just the way he talked,
Speaker 1: and it was interesting that delivery. But um, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's It's been a lot of background work before
Speaker 1: it happened, and then when it happened, we had a
Speaker 1: plan set in place of UM. Darren and I both
Speaker 1: did of people we were going to reach out to, stories,
Speaker 1: we were going to write UM in the interim before
Speaker 1: the press conference started, and then you know, get to
Speaker 1: meet him before the press conference and everything we had plans.
Speaker 1: I'm a big planner, so I'm excited for it today
Speaker 1: because Darren was mentioning the white board and I love
Speaker 1: knowing what's going to happen, and without having a coach
Speaker 1: in place, we didn't know, so those days were kind
Speaker 1: of tough for me personally. But knowing that we'll have
Speaker 1: a plan, the only thing left, the only dominoes left
Speaker 1: to fall our coaching staff. So once we get those,
Speaker 1: we're good to go. Oh, by the way, just that, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's going to hire an entire staff. That's a thing,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to know those guys and and that's
Speaker 1: what's that's what's neat about right now is there is
Speaker 1: a gear shifting and it's like there's a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff and before you know it, we will be in
Speaker 1: Indianapolis at the combine. We will be talking draft stuff
Speaker 1: for the next month, and we'll go through free agency
Speaker 1: and it'll all be on top of us. I would
Speaker 1: love to um hear one thing as as we kind
Speaker 1: of wind this down. I would love to hear one
Speaker 1: thing that in talking to different people or in talking
Speaker 1: to him, what's one of your your favorite stories or anecdotes,
Speaker 1: or something that stood out to you or just a
Speaker 1: feeling that you got about him. Like I said, for me,
Speaker 1: it was the family. You know, just how much it
Speaker 1: meant to the family to to all be back here.
Speaker 1: I thought that was really neat. But everyone can certainly
Speaker 1: read your incredible work on Panthers dot com, but give
Speaker 1: us a little a little excerpt from something that really
Speaker 1: just stood out to you. I just think seeing all
Speaker 1: those old guys. I I got a chance to catch
Speaker 1: up with John Casey before the press conference and visit
Speaker 1: with him a little bit, and they all came to
Speaker 1: the press conference. Are a lot of his former teammates
Speaker 1: came to the press conference. Laws was there, Dwight Stone,
Speaker 1: Jarred Williams, Mark Reddenhouser, I believe was some way in
Speaker 1: the building. So you know, it was neat to see. Ay,
Speaker 1: how many of those guys are near and settled here,
Speaker 1: and you realize when you see things like this that
Speaker 1: a team really is part of a community. I mean,
Speaker 1: John Casey is part of Charlotte as much as he
Speaker 1: is part of Carolina Panthers history. And he he shows
Speaker 1: up because of Frank Riike and and John just went
Speaker 1: on and on about the kind of person Frank is.
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the things that's important
Speaker 1: for a lot of people to know moving forward, is
Speaker 1: this is a guy who is kind of dug in
Speaker 1: and he is going to embed himself here. And you know,
Speaker 1: Charlotte's one of those places I've said before want to
Speaker 1: retire here and they want to stay here. But we're
Speaker 1: getting someone who is going to be good for Charlotte
Speaker 1: as well as good for the Carolina Panthers hopefully. So
Speaker 1: um I I'm gonna go back to when I spoke
Speaker 1: with Joe's brother he told me the story. I actually
Speaker 1: closed my article about it um or with this story,
Speaker 1: but I really loved it. Um It's it's kind of
Speaker 1: like exemplifies uh, Frank as a person, how he kind
Speaker 1: of like he said that his brother always kind of
Speaker 1: he he notices the moment, you know, he doesn't let
Speaker 1: the gravity of things sort of I guess a race.
Speaker 1: You know, the fact that he can soak in you know,
Speaker 1: this is cool that this happened. And he was talking
Speaker 1: about I'm looking back at super Bowl twenty seven. It
Speaker 1: was when he came in for Jim Kelly, uh when
Speaker 1: Buffalo lost pretty bad to Dallas Um and he said
Speaker 1: after the game, you know, it was a pretty bad
Speaker 1: Like he was completely honest with me. It's like it
Speaker 1: was a rough game for Frankie through like two interceptions,
Speaker 1: lost two fumbles. It was it was kind of rough.
Speaker 1: And we're walking out together and he turns to me
Speaker 1: and you know, there's there's a super Bowl, there's coming in.
Speaker 1: There's the rough game and getting blown out and he's
Speaker 1: like but he turns me, goes, dude, like I just
Speaker 1: played the super Bowl like that that was, and he goes,
Speaker 1: I love that story and I love it. Just makes
Speaker 1: me think of my brother because he notices those things.
Speaker 1: And he's like whenever I was talking to him after
Speaker 1: he accepted the job, he's just like, this is so cool,
Speaker 1: Like he I and I appreciate as a person that
Speaker 1: can kind of remove yourself from something and and soak
Speaker 1: it in and be like, this is awesome. And he
Speaker 1: was so proud telling that story, you know, a younger brother,
Speaker 1: and I just I appreciated the tone of voice that
Speaker 1: everything and and that's interesting and I can't wait to,
Speaker 1: you know, get to know the person who who is
Speaker 1: able to soak in moments like that. And as a
Speaker 1: journalist that's great because someone can tell vivid stories and details.
Speaker 1: And as a coach that I'm glad that you told
Speaker 1: me about that I haven't had I got to catch
Speaker 1: up on all my articles. I have not had a
Speaker 1: chance to read that with everything that's been going on,
Speaker 1: and I barely a chance to you know, eat so um.
Speaker 1: But yesterday I was doing a Q and A and um,
Speaker 1: someone asked in in the Q and A, what is
Speaker 1: something you wish you knew as a player? This is
Speaker 1: too frank that you would that you teach your current
Speaker 1: players or that you instill in them, And he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: just you gotta flush the last play and of course
Speaker 1: that's coach speak a little bit. But but paired with
Speaker 1: your story, Augusta, and he, I mean, he really dove
Speaker 1: into it. Of just the only way that you can
Speaker 1: succeed is to put the last play behind you. And
Speaker 1: what a great example of that you're talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: to be able to have a game like that and
Speaker 1: then to have the perspective to be able to appreciate
Speaker 1: the moment, right, And I do think that's what he's
Speaker 1: going to instill um in these players, and and that's
Speaker 1: a's certainly a big part of being able to win
Speaker 1: and bounce back. All Right, this was fun. I uh, Darren,
Speaker 1: I guess I hope you both get some sleep at
Speaker 1: some point. Um, we're good. I definitely need some. Thank
Speaker 1: you all so much for listening. We'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time on the Happy Half Hour podcast. Wo