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Speaker 1: You know, kids want to be promised something, they want

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Speaker 1: to be assured of something, and that's not how it works.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's not how life works. Has done how

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Speaker 1: athletics were. Play the game hard, get on a good team, perspective, game,

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Speaker 1: draft fright, be the first one out on the field,

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Speaker 1: be the last one out of dug out. There's little

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Speaker 1: things they do matter. This is the Reformed Sports Project,

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Speaker 1: a podcast about restoring healthy balance and perspective in all

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Speaker 1: areas of sports through education and advocacy. All Right, this

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Speaker 1: is Nick Bonacoort from the Reformed Sports Project podcast. Joining

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Speaker 1: me today is Mike Fox, former head baseball coach for

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Speaker 1: the University of North Carolina tar Heels and the Battling

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Speaker 1: Bishops at North Carolina Wesleyan College. This is an extra

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Speaker 1: special episode for me today as I have the privilege

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Speaker 1: to play for Coach Fox my freshman year at North

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Speaker 1: Carolina wesley and back coach and I dig into a

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Speaker 1: host of topics all pertaining to youth and amateur sports,

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Speaker 1: things like early sports by realization, the lessons that are

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Speaker 1: learned by kids through youth sport participation, and coaches take

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Speaker 1: on mental health and how it's impacting athletics today. I'm

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Speaker 1: really tickled. I'm excited. I'm grateful to have my former

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Speaker 1: coach who I was blessed to play for. He's just

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Speaker 1: recently retired. He's one of the greatest of all time

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Speaker 1: and I'm just humbled to have him. University of North Carolina,

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Speaker 1: North Carolina Wesleyan head coach, Hall of Famer and coach

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Speaker 1: Mike Fox. Coach Fox, thanks so much to talk with you.

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Speaker 1: I want to start right. I know you just retired.

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Speaker 1: You are getting pulled in a million directions. What we're

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Speaker 1: talking about is youth sports and athletic development. And what

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Speaker 1: I want to ask is, I know that you've seen

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Speaker 1: a lot of change through your career, but one thing

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Speaker 1: that hasn't changed. And I've interviewed a ton of coaches

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Speaker 1: in all different sports. The culture has changed, but doesn't

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Speaker 1: seem the demand has changed. And that's the whole multiple

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Speaker 1: sports for specialization thing. You know, kids at seven, six,

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Speaker 1: eight years old, you know the minute they swing the

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Speaker 1: bat go to they swim fast. It's like, let's stop

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Speaker 1: everything else, let's go year round. And there's the whole

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Speaker 1: ten thousand hour thing. The quicker we could be good

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Speaker 1: at something, the better odds are to get a scholarship,

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Speaker 1: all these things. But every college coach I talked to

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Speaker 1: says they like kids that play multiple sports, particularly young ages.

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Speaker 1: So when it comes to kids specialize in early versus

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Speaker 1: playing multiple sports, what are your thoughts on that. Well,

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Speaker 1: I'm on the record as far as what I think,

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Speaker 1: and that is, like most of the coaches use your referencing,

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Speaker 1: is that these kids do not need to specialize. They

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Speaker 1: need to be well rounded. I mean, we all know

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Speaker 1: that repetition and anything over and over and over again,

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Speaker 1: no matter what it is. But certainly in sports is

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Speaker 1: is not a good thing. And you're right. I think

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Speaker 1: when they see a young man who's talented at one thing,

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Speaker 1: they immediately want to cut off everything else, and that's dangerous.

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Speaker 1: These kids need to play other sports. They need to

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Speaker 1: play year round. They need to stop one play another one,

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Speaker 1: use different body parts, use different skill sets. That is

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Speaker 1: going to help them in the long run. I believe

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Speaker 1: it's going to keep them healthier in the long run,

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Speaker 1: perhaps prevent these injuries that are occurring so young. Um,

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Speaker 1: just all sorts of benefits, different coaches, different aspects, different mats,

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Speaker 1: just so much value in it. One thing that often

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Speaker 1: comes up is the idea of competition. How important is

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Speaker 1: the willingness to compete and I mean compete to win?

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Speaker 1: Because there's so many baseball games being played at times,

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Speaker 1: it almost seems like people are just kind of going

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Speaker 1: through the motions. Is that something you look for when

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Speaker 1: you're recruiting, like competitive drive, the will to compete, no doubt,

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Speaker 1: I mean that's uh, that might be the biggest factor

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Speaker 1: besides you know, character, um, which obviously has a lot

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Speaker 1: to do with their decision making and those intangibles. But

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Speaker 1: you know, I saw it more than more, you know,

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Speaker 1: towards the end of my career that you know, kids

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Speaker 1: want to be promised something, they want to be assured

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Speaker 1: of something, and that's not how it works. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's not how life works. That's not how athletics work.

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Speaker 1: And um, we call many and many a kid. If

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Speaker 1: you are worried about who else is here, if you're

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Speaker 1: worried about how many pictures shortstop second basement center fillers

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Speaker 1: we have here, then this might not be the place

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Speaker 1: for you. And I'm sure I'm not the only coach

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Speaker 1: making those statements, because we all want kids that come

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Speaker 1: in and want to compete. I mean, competition drives everything.

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Speaker 1: It may makes them better, it makes you better, makes

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Speaker 1: your program better, it makes everything better. And it's a powerful,

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Speaker 1: powerful motivator because competition is about playing time. And we

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Speaker 1: all know what a big motivator that is. So you're right.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you can only do so much, you know,

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Speaker 1: in a in a cage and in a weight room.

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Speaker 1: But you gotta get out. You gotta get out on

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Speaker 1: the field. You gotta get out on multiple fields. That's

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Speaker 1: what kids should be doing more of. In my opinion.

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Speaker 1: We used to call him when I played. We call

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Speaker 1: them cage rats. Are like a five o'clock hitter. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if he's still called that or what, Like

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Speaker 1: a BP player, you know, a great practice player. And

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Speaker 1: I hear this a lot too, you know, they talk

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Speaker 1: about over recruiting, and I'm thinking to myself, like, you know,

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Speaker 1: or coach said I had a spot. I'm like when

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Speaker 1: Coach Long came and saw me play, you know at Weston.

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Speaker 1: Now we're talking D three, right, you know. And then

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Speaker 1: I got a call from you, and I swear to

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Speaker 1: I tell this story of the time coach you called me,

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Speaker 1: and I don't think I understood one word you said,

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Speaker 1: because I was so used to listening to Yankee. My

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Speaker 1: dad's what he says. I don't know, but I think

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Speaker 1: he likes me. I have no idea. Well when I'm

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Speaker 1: to find out, but anyway, Yeah, so Coach Long told me,

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Speaker 1: and I think you told me on my trip, like

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Speaker 1: we have you know, we have Jeremy Stewart Forbes had

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Speaker 1: just graduated. Jeremy Stuart can catch We love to play

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Speaker 1: him somewhere else. But there's a few other guys coming in.

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Speaker 1: So I knew that there was a chance I was

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Speaker 1: gonna make the team, but I had a chance to

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Speaker 1: potentially compete to play, and I think from what I gathered,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of the way it is now. But it

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Speaker 1: almost seems like what is up with all these kids leaving?

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Speaker 1: They transfer like all of a sudden, someone else is there.

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Speaker 1: They leave, like what's wrong with weight in your turn

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Speaker 1: as a freshman. I don't understand it. Well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think it's the mentality that you're you know, that

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Speaker 1: you're seeing um, you know, all throughout their youth playing days,

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Speaker 1: which is what you're trying to expose, if you will,

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Speaker 1: What you're trying to show with this you know, year

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Speaker 1: round play and being coddled and being get on the

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Speaker 1: same team and playing every day and you know, not

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Speaker 1: used to sitting on the bench and watching. So it's

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Speaker 1: really it's hard. It's hard for these kids, you know,

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Speaker 1: to not play, and it's even harder for them to

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Speaker 1: look in the mirror and ask themselves why am I

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Speaker 1: not playing? And so the grasses, you know, maybe greener

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Speaker 1: or they're gonna have a better opportunity. What they don't

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Speaker 1: understand is the next school they're going to, they're gonna

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Speaker 1: be in the exact same situation. Because every coach that

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Speaker 1: I've ever met or dealt with is going to put

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Speaker 1: the best players on the field, no matter what, no

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Speaker 1: matter how they recruited. When they were recruited, scholarship, non scholarship.

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Speaker 1: The last two first round picks of the University of

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Speaker 1: North Carolina were non scholarship players for US, So that's

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Speaker 1: that's not a factor. But you're right, it's a national

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Speaker 1: phenomenon right now. The transfer portal, I don't I can't

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Speaker 1: even go on, and I don't want to go on,

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Speaker 1: and it's depressing all of us as coaches. And it's

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Speaker 1: easy for us to say, right, but we want these

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Speaker 1: kids to compete, work hard, and the ones that normally

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Speaker 1: do that to stay in your program, that get to

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Speaker 1: their junior year and get on the field the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years after maybe not playing as much the

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Speaker 1: first couple of years. Man, those kids end up being

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Speaker 1: your best players. They're your best leaders. They got the

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Speaker 1: best work out, they got the best attitude, and that

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Speaker 1: just lifts your whole program. The more of those kids

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Speaker 1: you can have in your program and on the field

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Speaker 1: as juniors and seniors, I think, the better chance you

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Speaker 1: have of having a really good club. I go on

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Speaker 1: the record of saying this, and I'm gonna say it again.

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Speaker 1: I am D three biased, right, I'm no question about it.

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Speaker 1: I'm biased because I played there, And I think that

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Speaker 1: when I say biased, I mean like I can't stand

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Speaker 1: when I hear D one or bust. Like if you

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Speaker 1: don't go to a D one, I'm gonna just say

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Speaker 1: this word to you, then just suck. That's what people think,

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Speaker 1: like anything less than that. I interviewed coach Gilmore and

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Speaker 1: this is the clip I got viewed more than any

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Speaker 1: other on Twitter, and he said, he goes Nick. You

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Speaker 1: know he's a D two guy at usc A can

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Speaker 1: for years. He's like, I had D two teams that

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Speaker 1: would beat us, So no, I don't want to play him.

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Speaker 1: You know, certain teams and there's juicos that have as

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Speaker 1: much talent as we do. And I know our Wesleyan

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Speaker 1: teams were good. Now depth wise, I get it, but

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Speaker 1: there's something to be said about showing up at wesley

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Speaker 1: knowing that we were gonna win every single day and

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Speaker 1: winning and competing for a national championships. Like what's the

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Speaker 1: D three D one experience? You talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: about the difference, Like you won the ninety nine national

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Speaker 1: title at North Carolina Wesleyan. Was that any less of

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Speaker 1: a thrilled than going to Omaha? Like? What's the difference?

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Speaker 1: Is there? One? Oh? There's I mean no, there was.

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Speaker 1: There was no less of a thrill, not even close.

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Speaker 1: You know. I tell every group of campers that came

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Speaker 1: through North Carolina every summer all twenty two years that

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Speaker 1: you know, there's not all of you can play at

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Speaker 1: this level. And I'm a former Division three coach, etcetera, etcetera.

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Speaker 1: Kind of use my platform and I'm like, hey, Division

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Speaker 1: three is not a synonym for third rate. I'm telling

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Speaker 1: you I coached some players. There's some teams there that

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Speaker 1: were sensational. I remember one year before the rules came in,

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Speaker 1: we played eleven Division one teams and one year and

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Speaker 1: went eight and three. So you know, I don't I

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Speaker 1: don't like that term either, and I hear that some

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Speaker 1: as well, and I try to downplay that when I

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Speaker 1: talked to all these kids and their parents and the

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Speaker 1: campers that I don't know where you're gonna fit right now.

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Speaker 1: You're young. There's a lot of great pro burns out

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Speaker 1: there at the Division three level, the Division two level

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Speaker 1: junior college. You got to find the right fit for you.

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Speaker 1: You know, certainly, where you can get on the field,

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Speaker 1: you can play, you can be happy to get a

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Speaker 1: good degree. So I'm on Division three bias, uh as well,

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Speaker 1: for sure. I mean that's where I cut my teeth

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Speaker 1: and that's where I had so much, so much fun.

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Speaker 1: Obviously it was a little simpler back then, but I

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Speaker 1: long for those days at times. You know, kids that

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Speaker 1: just played for the love of the game and there's

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Speaker 1: you know, no scholarships and um sometimes a little less

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Speaker 1: he goes at time, and yeah, it's it's it's fun.

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Speaker 1: I mean, baseball is baseball, I mean winning and having

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Speaker 1: fun and developing. And you know you've got teammates for

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Speaker 1: life from North Carolina Westley and I'm I'm quite sure

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Speaker 1: I have friends for life there. So the model line,

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Speaker 1: it's all about relationships. Wherever you develop those that play

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Speaker 1: whatever level that is, it can be great. That's Mike Fox,

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Speaker 1: former had baseball coach for the tar Heels at the

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Speaker 1: University of North Carolina as well as the Battling Ships

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Speaker 1: from North Carolina Wesleyan College. When we return, Coach Fox

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Speaker 1: and I are going to talk about life lessons that

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Speaker 1: I actually learned playing for him and advice for kids

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Speaker 1: who want to play sports in college. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: the Reform Sports Project podcast. Where Coach Fox and I

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Speaker 1: left off. We were about to discuss lessons learned on

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Speaker 1: the field, early ranking and recruiting, and his advice for

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Speaker 1: those looking to play sports in college. Coach, this is

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Speaker 1: not scripted, and you just like, I feel like I'm

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Speaker 1: putting him on a t for you. You like segue

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Speaker 1: that perfect you brought up relationship. That's what I wanted

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Speaker 1: to get into. And I'm gonna tell two quick stories

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Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna let you roll with it. I

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Speaker 1: learned one of the greatest life lessons from you ever,

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Speaker 1: and that is that to be a great leader everyone.

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Speaker 1: And I learned this when I was a manager in

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Speaker 1: office in New York and in my pressional career. Everyone's

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Speaker 1: got to be treated differently. And you taught me that

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Speaker 1: my freshman year playing for you. I remember I was

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Speaker 1: very insecure, very very unsure. I felt small, I felt little.

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Speaker 1: I just I was nervous, nervous, little freshman. And you

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Speaker 1: kept telling me, like, you're a good player. Do you

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Speaker 1: know how good you are? But then i'd I'd watch

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Speaker 1: Tim Wright from ever tim he get out of the cage,

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Speaker 1: and you wouldn't be afraid to kind of get on him,

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Speaker 1: and he would get mad and react in a good way,

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Speaker 1: like it motivated him. But if you did that to me,

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Speaker 1: I mean I might have fallen over. I was so

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Speaker 1: nervous at that time. So you would always talk to

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Speaker 1: me differently, and I'll never forget you put your arm

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Speaker 1: around me one time and you probably don't remember, but

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Speaker 1: do you know how good you are? Like when are

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Speaker 1: you gonna chill out a little bit? And then one

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Speaker 1: time where at work study And then I probably don't

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Speaker 1: want me to say this on the RM, I'm gonna say,

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Speaker 1: I don't care you're retired. No, I don't care. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna say it. Um, I didn't like working hard at work,

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Speaker 1: study whatever. I'm still nervous around you. I'm nervous talking

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Speaker 1: to you now because I respect you so much. But

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Speaker 1: you said, Nick, you're gonna work hard to that. I said,

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Speaker 1: shut coach, can I put it dip in while I'm

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Speaker 1: doing this? And you looked at me like number one,

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Speaker 1: I can't believe you just asked me and you said sure,

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Speaker 1: you got something for me. And I was like, oh

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Speaker 1: my god. And that those two stories I talk about,

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Speaker 1: they made me think you were human, if that makes

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Speaker 1: any sense. Like it it like broke down this wall

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Speaker 1: of nervousness that I had. Was that intentional? Is that something?

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Speaker 1: How did you? How did you know you got to

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Speaker 1: treat people differently? Like? Is that something you learned along

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Speaker 1: the way and use throughout your life or what? Well?

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Speaker 1: You do have to learn as you as you go.

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Speaker 1: I mean, fortunately for you, I had a few classes

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Speaker 1: before you. Uh, you know that I had to I

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Speaker 1: had to learn and sometimes you have to learn, you know,

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Speaker 1: the hard way. Um, I think it's the biggest challenge

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Speaker 1: of coaching, UM these days. And because you're you're you're

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Speaker 1: limited with tom you know, the rosters are bigger. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you don't spend as much time, let's say, with the

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Speaker 1: pictures if you're the head coach or you know, the hitters,

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Speaker 1: if you're the pissing coach. And it's something you really

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Speaker 1: have to work. You have to work hard at it.

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Speaker 1: And uh, because every every kid, every every player is different,

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Speaker 1: different backgrounds, you have to find out as fast as can,

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Speaker 1: like what what makes them tick and what buttons to push?

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Speaker 1: And um, your window of getting the best out of

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Speaker 1: them is is short. And you can't take a year

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Speaker 1: and just let them just sort of flounder or he's

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Speaker 1: missed out on an opportunity, you know, on an opportunity.

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Speaker 1: And UM, yeah, I mean that's why every every freshman

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Speaker 1: that comes into our program, you know, in the summer,

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Speaker 1: I spend I don't know, probably an hour and a

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Speaker 1: half to two hours talking to each one of them individually,

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Speaker 1: and we don't talk at all about baseball. I'll give

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Speaker 1: you an example, like, uh, you know who's uh, who's

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Speaker 1: your role model? Um, you know, hobbies, what are your

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Speaker 1: three worst habits. Um, questions like that that, I get that,

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Speaker 1: and I take a lot of notes, so I get

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Speaker 1: to pull out of these young kids, you know a

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Speaker 1: little bit more than I would otherwise. So right out

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Speaker 1: of the gate, it gives me an opportunity to try

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Speaker 1: to know them as people. I'll figure them out on

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Speaker 1: the field being around him enough. But um, I think

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Speaker 1: the key, the key is to learn them, you know,

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Speaker 1: who they are as people and family and background, and

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Speaker 1: because you know you're gonna have those challenges with him

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Speaker 1: at times and you're gonna have to just talk to

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Speaker 1: him as you know, as kids at some point without

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Speaker 1: the baseball and because they're gonna struggle in all areas

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Speaker 1: of their life potentially well meant health is a big

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Speaker 1: topic that's coming up a lot. You know, back in

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Speaker 1: thirty forty years ago, I'm sure twenty five years ago, Gali,

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Speaker 1: it was like, you know, if you're not tough, like,

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Speaker 1: let's go, let's go pick it up a little bit here. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, as more and more comes out where you know,

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Speaker 1: there's athletes that are speaking. I can just think of

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Speaker 1: Ben Gordon, you know, Michael Phelps. These guys are talking

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Speaker 1: about how you know, these things that under so much pressure, stress,

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Speaker 1: you know, and you can trace a lot of that

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Speaker 1: back to that early specializing, like that early intensity at

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Speaker 1: those young ages. Some of those extreme athletes, Olympians and

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Speaker 1: so on, they don't really experience much of a childhood,

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Speaker 1: so there's like trauma and stuff. Is that something that

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Speaker 1: you had to kind of learn as you go? I mean,

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Speaker 1: because it's kind of a new thing. Is that something

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Speaker 1: you were conscious about like keeping in mind that you know,

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Speaker 1: the kids mental well being along the way. Yeah, it's um,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it is a it is a it's a

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Speaker 1: great topic down It's one I've had to learn and research,

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Speaker 1: and you know, obviously there's a big difference. I think

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Speaker 1: the one thing that's frustrated me over the past a

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Speaker 1: few years. As you'll hear people talk about mental health,

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Speaker 1: they'll astly say the word mental illness, and there's a

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Speaker 1: vast um distinction you know between the two. Um. I

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Speaker 1: know from personal experience with one of my children who

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Speaker 1: suffers from a mental illness, that's that's quite different than

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Speaker 1: mental health. When we talk about mental health with athletes,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about um, you know, anxiety. We're talking about

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Speaker 1: maybe maybe bits of depression, sadness, not the clinical type

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Speaker 1: of depression that can be associated with mental illness, um,

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Speaker 1: but those type of things with kids having you know,

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Speaker 1: too much expectations on them, losing their drive, losing their fun,

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Speaker 1: not wanting to do their sport anymore because there there's

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Speaker 1: too many people wanting them to do this and that,

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Speaker 1: and it does become a mental thing much more than

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Speaker 1: a physical one. And unfortunately, Carolina, you have these resources

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Speaker 1: with sports psychologists and not spending an ord amount of

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Speaker 1: time with Juan Jenny Shannon at U n C, who

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Speaker 1: is just outstanding. She helped me greatly with several of

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Speaker 1: my players. I would go talk to her and say, Okay,

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Speaker 1: tell me, how can I how can I meet this

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Speaker 1: kid where you know basically where his needs are and um,

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Speaker 1: so you know they have to be careful what they

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Speaker 1: can divulge to you, of course, but yeah, it is

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Speaker 1: extremely important now and there's more and more kids that are,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately in that category where their brain, if you will,

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Speaker 1: just kind of gets in the way of just their

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Speaker 1: joy and their talent and just being able to go

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Speaker 1: out and play the game and have fun like like

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Speaker 1: I feel like I did as a as a kid.

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Speaker 1: You know, in the backyard, and there were no expectations.

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Speaker 1: And these kids that are told they're gonna be first

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Speaker 1: round draft picks and they're gonna make all this money,

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Speaker 1: you know, when they're when they're fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old.

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Speaker 1: It's just a cringe when I you know, when I

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Speaker 1: hear that with kids, because it's extremely unfair to them.

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Speaker 1: I think this is my own opinion based off all

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Speaker 1: these conversations that I've had, and I really believe a

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Speaker 1: lot of the issues you can trace back to these

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Speaker 1: young rankings, I mean rank individual rankings that like who's

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Speaker 1: the elite elite of the elite eight year old, nine

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Speaker 1: year old, ten year old level? Like what is God named?

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Speaker 1: Like what? Like I just think it's crazy, But it's

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Speaker 1: a chase to me. I almost look at like it's

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Speaker 1: like an addiction for parents, like their wallets just come out,

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Speaker 1: but they justified or people, Well, kids are getting offered

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Speaker 1: when they're thirteen fourteen, and I sit there and I go,

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Speaker 1: who's getting offered like the Lebron James kid, Like there's

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Speaker 1: not that many, Like you gotta be a stud to

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Speaker 1: do that, Am I wrong? Like how does that change

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Speaker 1: who's in charge of that because quote, I'm gonna just

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Speaker 1: say this, you might get mad at me and hang up.

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Speaker 1: I don't care, but don't hang up, please don't. But

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Speaker 1: parents will say to me, college coaches preach multiple sports

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Speaker 1: and all us, but then they offer fourteen year old.

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Speaker 1: They talk out of both sides of their mouth. What

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Speaker 1: are your thoughts on that whole young age thing and

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Speaker 1: how do you think it can be fixed? Well, that's

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Speaker 1: a you know, that's a topic for about a two hours. Sure, no,

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Speaker 1: I get it discussion. I mean just uh yeah. The

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Speaker 1: earlier recruiting is um surly something and I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: not gonna miss um. And I saw it throughout my career.

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Speaker 1: I mean I remember making home visits with you know,

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Speaker 1: Rest Adams for example, you know, early in my time

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Speaker 1: at you and see you know, going to his house

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Speaker 1: and you know, be in a first round pick and

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Speaker 1: playing you know, for Toronto and he didn't commit untol

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Speaker 1: you know, his senior year. And you know, honestly, you're

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Speaker 1: almost forced. You're you're forced to offer kids, um, so

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Speaker 1: to speak, because you either with some of them, either

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Speaker 1: you get in the boat if you will, or you know,

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Speaker 1: or you get left. Now you know, is that a

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Speaker 1: particular reason to offer, you know, man, not particularly, but

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Speaker 1: there are other factors that are you know, that are involved. Um,

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Speaker 1: maybe he's been to your camp. Maybe he tells you

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Speaker 1: I want to come to North Carolina. But I've got

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Speaker 1: offers from this school, this school, this school, and you

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Speaker 1: you're either gonna wait or you're not. I mean, it

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Speaker 1: is completely, absolutely, utterly, completely out of control. And you

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Speaker 1: you just said the question that everyone would like to

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Speaker 1: have an answer to is how do you get it

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Speaker 1: back under control? Well, I'm not sure you do at

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Speaker 1: this point. The one way coaches I've mentioned is as

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Speaker 1: soon as you get a verbal commitment, you sign them

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Speaker 1: in right then to a national let of intent and

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Speaker 1: an athletic scholarship agreement which binds the two parties together.

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Speaker 1: That might slow it down cancelation the season. The pandemic

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Speaker 1: briefly slowed down recruiting, and then all of a sudden

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Speaker 1: and went right back to warp speed. And now it's

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Speaker 1: even worse because kids are committing now to schools and

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Speaker 1: they've never met the coach face to face, never been

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Speaker 1: in the stadium, never met the academic councilor and that

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Speaker 1: takes all the relationship out of recruiting, and I desperately

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Speaker 1: held on or tried to hold on to that relationship

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Speaker 1: part of recruiting UM, but it almost nearly became impossible.

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Speaker 1: And with early recruiting and early commitments comes to all

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Speaker 1: sorts of issues going forward down the road. As we know,

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Speaker 1: that's why you're seeing the commits, that's why you're seeing transfers.

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Speaker 1: That's where you're seeing, UM, the fallout of kids committing

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Speaker 1: with their in the ninth grade. And yes, still we

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Speaker 1: look like we're talking out of both sides of our mouth.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure I do, but honestly, I don't really care

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00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:05,560
Speaker 1: anymore because I'm retired. But it's not right and it's

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00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 1: bothered me ever since we started having to do it. UM.

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00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,600
Speaker 1: The younger coaches are much more equipped, I think, to

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00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,880
Speaker 1: do it because they sort of grew up in it. UM.

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Speaker 1: I spoke to Halbert, the former coach at Auburn yesterday

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00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:20,159
Speaker 1: and I've known each other for a long time, and

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00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,119
Speaker 1: we talked for about an hour. He's been out of

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00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 1: the game a while, and guess what topic came up,

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00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,199
Speaker 1: you know, earlier recruiting. And he had the same thoughts,

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00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,160
Speaker 1: you know, as as I did about it, So tell

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00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:34,080
Speaker 1: me this coach. A lot of parents want to hear this.

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00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:35,800
Speaker 1: Parents and kids they want to hear what do they

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00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 1: gotta do to become college athletes? Like when you were

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00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,120
Speaker 1: in the game, which was like three weeks ago. What

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00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:42,359
Speaker 1: what what are you looking for? Yeah? What are you

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00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,760
Speaker 1: looking for? What should they be focused on? You know,

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00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,040
Speaker 1: ninth tenth graders they want to play. They're not getting

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00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,480
Speaker 1: offers at fourteen. These are these are kids like myself

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00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 1: or whatever? What are these kids? What should they focus on?

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00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 1: Their parents? Play the game, are get on a good

447
00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,280
Speaker 1: team perspective, game draft right, be the first one out

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00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,800
Speaker 1: on the field, be the last one out of the dugout.

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00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:04,680
Speaker 1: If you go play a travel game at UNC, n C,

450
00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,680
Speaker 1: staateis Carolina, pick up the cups and the dugout. Those

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00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,800
Speaker 1: little things they do matter. And there's still coaches out there.

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00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,360
Speaker 1: I think a lot of them were still paying attention

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00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 1: to those things. Your talents are gonna take you where

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00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,359
Speaker 1: it takes you, um and if it's good enough, it

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00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,560
Speaker 1: jumps off the field. At Division one coaches, at Division

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00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,640
Speaker 1: two coaches, they we see that talents The easy part

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00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,879
Speaker 1: for us to see. It's all the other intangibles, and

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00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,560
Speaker 1: I cringe when I see these kids. I mean I've

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00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:35,040
Speaker 1: seen I've seen coaches, travel team coaches on the field

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00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,720
Speaker 1: at UNC and shower shoes with no hat. I don't

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00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 1: think they have any respect for not only the game,

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00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,080
Speaker 1: but for being on our field or anyone's field. And

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00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:46,080
Speaker 1: I wouldn't recruit them because I would have to completely

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00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 1: retrain them. If you will just respect the game, play hard, um,

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00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:53,919
Speaker 1: you know, run out of the box hard. Just just

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00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,160
Speaker 1: do those little things and then you'll be noticed. I mean,

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00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 1: somebody will pay attention to you, and then your talent

468
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,040
Speaker 1: will go from there. And obviously these decisions that you're

469
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,560
Speaker 1: making off the field are extremely important. Or you say

470
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,760
Speaker 1: your language, everybody's listening. There's always somebody watching you, somebody

471
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:13,679
Speaker 1: listening to you. So try to keep those things in

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00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,199
Speaker 1: mind wherever you go. Coach Fox, I'm so grateful for

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00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,600
Speaker 1: your time. You're the man. I'm just so privileged and

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00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:21,639
Speaker 1: honored that you willing to spend your time and may

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00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,000
Speaker 1: love you and I'm grateful for you. Thank you, Nick Man.

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Speaker 1: It's always good to talk with you, um ad By

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00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,520
Speaker 1: and respect you for for what you're doing, this passion

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00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,000
Speaker 1: that you have. There's changes that need to be made

479
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,240
Speaker 1: in you sports, and UH, the only way to make

480
00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:38,160
Speaker 1: changes with someone like you who just takes the bull

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00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,760
Speaker 1: by the horn and start a movement. You started a

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00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,240
Speaker 1: great one. That's Mike Fox, former head baseball coach for

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00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,679
Speaker 1: the tar Heels at the University of North Carolina as

484
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,719
Speaker 1: well as the Battling Bishops from North Carolina Wesleyan College.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Reformed Sports Project podcast. I'm

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00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,359
Speaker 1: Nick Boncourt and our goal is to restore a healthy

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00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:58,760
Speaker 1: balance and perspective in all areas of sports through education

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00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 1: and advocacy. For updates, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter,

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00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,239
Speaker 1: and Instagram, or check out our website by searching for

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00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,840
Speaker 1: the Reform Sports Project. H