Southern Arizona Sports Talk W/ Special Guest Zach Neveleff - Head Football Coach at Tucson High …

[Music] [Music] w [Music] nah [Music] no [Music] [Music] [Applause] you what is up guys we are back with another episode of Southern Arizona Sports talks I'm extremely excited because my I'm an alumni for tuai and they are our highlight team of the week cue the intro of the practice trust and believe I want the best of the best I want to go against the best I want to make it to the open we have a bunch of different weapons as far as changing the culture here we have never been at this level ever at all the years I've been [Music] here have full confidence that we're going to win every game we're going to go to playoffs [Music] we will take that state championships what up what is up guys so I have a special guest the head coach at Tucson High School how you doing brother doing well man doing well uh appreciate you guys' time appreciate you guys having me out here thanks for being on so I got to ask you brother what's the difference between getting ready for opening day as a coach and as a player and which one would you rather would you rather be a player or a coach when it comes oh dude player all day like are you kidding me like you know you have the band in the morning you're going through class like it just takes me back to like that old school like Michael Vic Brian orac a commercial where they're walking around class and stuff like that but you know as a coach you kind of you kind of get numb to it all now like you know my whole day is like the same it's been the same for the last 15 years um I'm superstitious so that that some of those things still what's your superstitions man I'm a baseball player I have a bunch of them like I would have to have the same socks same breakfast same everything before a game yeah so it starts off like you know yesterday I don't eat anything till team meal right so I won't have anything to eat all of Thursday than team meal we grow with the whole team and then you know now that I'm the head coach some of the things have gone away like you know like my job right like I don't have the same job I used to but like when I worked the same job back then like I would always have the same game day fit throughout work now that I'm doing solar I kind of am my own boss so I don't have that same like uniqueness to my style but uh really you know same shoes all those type of things and then I mean if we lose like everything goes to hell and I change up everything so uh same socks too or no no not anymore I used to like cuz I used to wear dress shoes like I used to wear dress clothes so my dress clothes dress shoes all that had to be the same all the time but now I'm wearing freaking Vans and yeah just chilling out laid back yeah yeah it's a bit different but you know as far as game day versus you know being a player being a coach like you're nervous all day you just you're just anticipating it as a player as a coach you're like let's get here let's make some mistakes let's do some great things and let's go win a ball game yeah is it hard kind of not being on the field like kind of not you do everything all week to get prepared but then when it comes to game time you almost have almost no control about the outcome in a way no I mean you prepare for it right like so it's tough to say you don't have no control like you're not physically playing the game but like one call can change the entirety of the game right like accepting a you know you know going forward versus punting or or trying to figure out what field position you want or how you're going to manipulate going for one or two depending on the math and there's a whole bunch of things that go into it so like I know I play a huge role in the game by being a game manager right and that's what we do as coaches we just manage the game differently right so you know I think special teams plays a huge role and factor in that and then you know and then my captains like our skilled players like they understand what I want right like we we are synced in like defensively offensively and my coordinators know exactly what I want to do so they follow my brand of football so the three of us work really really well together and then their assistance help assist them for things they can't see right so that's why using headsets and everything like that yeah it's so important yeah that's a so expand on that a little bit more what what does Tucson High football look like right now what's your style of coaching and kind of what do we got to look forward to coming up today you know uh coaching so long there's one thing I've really understood is like hard work works and either you coach it or you allow it so what we coach and what we allow are two different things like I'm not going to allow them to be you know whatever they want to do and you know just come out late or anything like that because then affs affects the whole nucleus of your team like yeah so I start off like I'm very inyour face very matter of fact no droy you know we all have to look the same and it shows in our game right like now we're all playing together as one cohesive unit and that's how it has to be so as long as I'm on them and we're working extremely hard to our goals and we understand our goals are a lot higher than most then we have to just you know make sure we're hitting all those at practice that's awesome so kind of we're going to take it back a little bit because in this podcast I really want to learn the journeys of everyone so tell me what was what was it about football that made you like I'm going to make this my life and about rugby too because you played rugby as well yeah so I mean it all comes back to like being in like third grade for me at least you know I I played the flag football up until third grade I finally convinced my grandma to let me play now it's third grade all my friends are going to Mighty Mites and I'm jumping up to PeeWee because I'm just that much bigger than my peers right so now I'm playing against dudes that are three four years older than me and you know truthfully I'm not getting a lot of playtime I'm a eight playay minimum kid at best at that time and then you know you go through it and then you know fifth grade really everything changes for me right like I figure out football and everything like that but I remember you know the first time ever playing football and it's funny cuz I had a kid do it this year as a freshman you know you put on your girdle and there there's a part of your girdle it's it's it it's your butt pad like you know what I mean it protects your tailbone and I didn't know that so I wore the reverse and then put a cup on like yo there's a lot of stuff protecting my junk right now yeah and then my coach was like no you have to put it on the other way and everything like that so like oh so homie didn't even know how to put on gear or nothing like that no no no no he didn't I didn't at third grade and he didn't as a freshman so you know it it was just funny like like it coming full circle right so my journey started then and you know like we talked about earlier like you know I wasn't a big video game kid video games weren't that huge I mean they were they were fun but like we were outside like all the time so breaking bones doing something fun always tackling always doing things like that and and and just playing backyard football so I did that like all the time and that's how I really fell in love with football then I started playing football and I was all about football and then sixth grade comes I feel like I'm like you know the best sixth grader in town like I'm loving football and then one of my buddies Ryan matus actually he convinces me to play rugby and I'm like what the hell is rugby he's like oh dude you just got to come out I go out the next thing I know like it's a whole Varsity High School foot rugby team and it's me and Ryan he's in seventh grade I'm in sixth grade and we go play oh you're going against high schoolers already yeah I was going against high school kids so it it was a lot of fun but like you know it really set me up for my Collision Sports career right like so I'm playing rugby he's playing rugby you know Ryan ended up going and playing for the USA Eagles rugby team he played at the U OFA with me uh he just got hired as the head coach of San Diego State so shout out to Ryan mattius um so yeah so so so we're doing those things I'm coming up through it you know I'm I'm loving football and then boom I get hit with like a super bad like eye contusion like broke a couple bones in my face and everything so I had to get sidelined for a little bit and I remember like I'm crying like I'm all upset all I want to do is play football so like I think you know it was like a I I I forget the exact date but my return to play was going to be so late and I remember taking that doctor's note and like scribbling on it to change the date and like my coach is new I think too but they were like he's cool with it grandma's okay with it like Zach loves football Zach gets to play football so like that that's kind of how it came up and then I got the opportunity to go play at South Point so I was like at that time I was like what's South Point and you know what I mean like I had no idea I didn't really know who coach banet was but I knew their defensive coordinator Joey berer you know he had looked out for me a lot in middle school you know I wasn't doing the best things in middle school so he looked out for me got me on the path went to South Point and then that's when I realized oh like I needed to be here because it's not a game no more like this is real life like this is all you do is like you work out you you know take care of class room work you know like like the classroom is super important you have you know a better understanding with God in your faith and then you hone in on football yeah so that's what we were conditioned to do right and weight room all that conditioned to do that and where it's no longer just a game it is a lifestyle and then that's what I had been looking for for a long time so so I I did that I I had a great career there and then you know and I wasn't allowed to play rugby though he like had stopped me from playing rugby my freshman year so I stopped playing rugby and then Senior Year I got back into rugby and then so now I'm playing rugby again I hit up Ryan we're on the same travel team we make we make Allstar teams all that and then I get the opportunity to play at the University of Arizona so then I started doing that for legendary Coach Dave sitton learned a lot of life lessons from him uh God Rest his soul and um yeah so as I'm playing there one of my mentors Dean Greenberg he's like hey Zach like you should come coach I'm like I'm not coaching like what are you talking about I'm a freshman in college like that does not like that's not something I want to do football at that point football oh so he was like oh just come check it out like I'm coaching at Tucson High freshman and then he lists like this coaching staff and I was like oh yeah I think I'm going to go be a part of that coaching staff like you know I think it was like the best freshman coaching staff I've ever seen like it was me me Dean Greenberg Eric Rogers who was the coach at South Point now he's coaching at Basia we had Benny Smith Benny Smith best friends with Drew Brees was uh quarterback app Purdue ended up switching to safety because of Drew Brees and then um I I can't remember his name right now we had Joe longaker he was he was a he was a offensive tackle at the University of aiz Arona he just finished so he was over there and then oh man I can't remember this other guy but he was the Crimson Chin but he was the tight end for Tom Brady when they were at um Michigan oh so our staff was low had an Allstar coach right there allar team of coaches yeah so I was like I was like let me let me just hone in on this let's figure it out what were like the main things you learned from them um to be a coach cuz you were with an all your All-Star group like what things you learned from that like like just the way they attack the game and how knowledgeable they are about the game but like you know what I mean at the same time like I'm a freshman in college like and I don't think I retain too much of what was going on I was just out there you know do what you got to do in college Thursday nights is like the night you go out so it's like boom win a game go out yeah no you know what I mean I probably wasn't doing the best things but then you know I I felt some type of way I'm not going to say I didn't like I'm a South Point guy I'm coaching at Tu on high I didn't like it you know the culture wasn't the same the buyin wasn't the same so I was like yeah I'm not doing this no more and then one of my other coaches hits me up the following year and he's like Zach come coach Pop Warner I'm like I'm not coaching Pop Warner he was like yeah just come be the defense coordinator I was like all right I I guess I'll go out and try it and I fell in love with it that's when I really fell in love with it and he would pick me up every day I remember my G pick me up every day take me to practice and I would coach you know like junior [ __ ] you know 13-year-old kids and it was a lot of fun I liked it I enjoyed it but then the parents kind of like I didn't like that aspect of it so I got out of it and then I you know Dean hits me back up asked me to go coach at Mountain View I'm like all right I guess I'll go do that and you know I I did the varsity over there that was my first Varsity gig he he he tells me about it I go do it and I had just finished up playing rugby at the UVA so I went and did that got to coach Stanberry Hill got to coach you know under bam you know it you know I it's so funny cuz that first group of kids really changed my perspective on coaching right like I have one of them on my staff right now JP like you know what I mean and I and I actually have two Paul Paul came over as well so it's like I've always been really tight with that first class of seniors that I coached cuz we were so close in age you know mean what was like kind of special about them was it just like a hardworking group or they they were they were hardworking like they were really hardworking like the running back was really really good Richie and and they they were super hardworking but they just wanted to like learn like everything about me and how they could be better and apply it to their game so that's what I really likeed like it felt like bam was changing the culture so fast that they were all bought into to yeah we're doing this now we're going to be you know like a program and and I respected that so I gave them everything I knew and then at the end of the season it was just you know back to the drawing board what am I doing and then me and Coach banet finally crossed pass and he was like what are you doing come home and I was like you're right all right I'll be there and then I went to South Point started off as a lower level you know coach I was running the weight room for the JV and freshman teams so I was doing all of that and then out of you know out of dumb luck or or you know just just me working my tail off coach Benet recognized something in me and gave me the opportunity to coach the running backs at South Point on the varsity team and at that time you know we had a really good one coming up and that was that Bon and then you know after that like after learning from that coaching staff coaching someone of that type of caliber I knew I had to you know excel in a in in a lot different way and the season before that I was still on JV all those kids wanted rugby they had known about my Rugby background so they asked me to put a team at South Point so I did so then you know for is that their first team ever for rugby yeah I I I started the program there so I brought rugby to South Point and then when I brought it to South Point broy created the team Siena created the team um and then a lot more teams started adopting the high school instead of just the club so it it was cool man B brought rugby Arizon in a way no I wouldn't say all that I wouldn't say all that may maybe Tucson a little bit all right guys so we got to take a break for our ads we'll see you in a little bit one a look that turns heads The Talented Barbers at these barers ships are here here to bring your vision to life whether it's that slick fade style trim or that bald style you've been dreaming of these Barber Shop got you covered located in the heart of Grant Road industry Center open Tuesday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6 PM 1842 West Grant Road Tucson Arizona the barber shop is a place where SLE and Swagger Collide my name is Philip Pilon [Music] we don't [Music] [ __ ] all your insurance needs out of home business and Life Trust Gilbert R Perez the owner of diack Financial Group give him a call for consultation 520 304 433 or shoot them an email at Gilbert dfg.ca.gov [Applause] and we back um so one of the questions I had was um what's the difference between coaching football and coaching rugby is it similar um are you almost harder on one group than the other how does that really work yeah the cultures are completely different right like you know I still believe hard work works and everything like that but like coaching football everyone watches football in America everyone knows what football is rugby no one knows what it is right so it's it's it it's a beautiful balance but it's like when I coach football I'm in my element I'm hard noosed I'm on them um and I'm really teaching plays demanding things in rugby I'm teaching them the game of rugby I'm teaching them the culture of rugby because the culture of rugby is completely different from football and a lot of the things we get in football actually come from rugby right rugby was first right so like when you hear touchdown that's equal and equivalent to a try right but how you get a try in rugby you have to touch the ball ground down so like touch down right and there there's a few other things like that and the line of scrimmage is you know that's where a scrum is formed and stuff like that so it it's pretty cool but like coaching rugby is so much fun because the parents don't know what the hell is going on so I'm not hearing that from the crowd or anything like that so that's the difference there's a big misconception about what rugby is and they think it's this brutal crazy sport and you know it kind of is but like it's it's it's so much more sophisticated than that and that's what I really enjoy about coaching rugby is no one knows what it is but it's a super intense Sport and it's like soccer like it's go go go go 90 minutes there's no breaks right there's a halftime that's it and the only time you're coming off the field is if there's a blood sub so you have to have like the cardio to play 90 minutes of you know football kind of right there's you you're not getting bailed out by a whistle that's crazy it's pretty cool but like you know football I love it it's my passion I also have a huge passion for rugby and and when that time comes you know I'll I'll I'll jump back into rugby but right now start start a program up at 2 high oh yeah yeah that's that's the goal but it's you know I have four kids so it takes a lot of time and you know I'm not willing to sacrifice more time to coaching right now at at at a rugby level I need to I rather oversee it and and get my guys in there to start doing it so that that is a plan of mine though heck yeah what was it like at South Point like would you have to convince kids like hey come try this new sport out or something or what was it like trying to get kids in so so at first you know um the kids I were coaching really wanted it so I asked the athletic department one year and they were like no we're not ready then I was like all right fine and then the second year I asked again and then all the players started asking and a lot of big donors started asking so they were like all right let's give it a try and we went to state championship we didn't win it but we went the first year oh shoot and then that had a lot of buying and then like you know I'm a football coach so now I'm getting all the football players to come too so now I had all the football players wrestlers everyone was coming to play rugby and we were we were doing really really well and then the covid year happened and I mean we were undefeated and we were blowing everyone out and then Co happened and we had to stop in the middle of our season which sucked like you know what I mean I think at that point we were like maybe 10 and 0 just beating everyone playoffs is about to start end of season nothing happens no winner and then that following year South Point elected to not let us have a rugby team because it was too close contact and then the year after that it was just you know everything was gone like you know what I mean and and it really was not just to point rugby but rugby all over you know America and especially you know Arizona like rugby kind of died a little bit so that was that was tough that that was a huge blow but I mean it starting to come back and everything and I truly believe if rugby players and football players they they they work the same you're doing the same type of things you're running you're tackling you're just not blocking right but you're being physical all year long you're learning how to fall you're learning how to catch and you're going to get you know a thousand more reps of everything becoming more gritty every day with that yeah so I truly believe like a great football team and then you play rugby now you're going to be that much better in football that Following Season yeah there's no offseason and tackling and all that so your skills get that much sharper right and it's just you know it's just constantly moving and doing things that's how you get better just repetitions now you're getting more repetitions and they're cleaner repetitions you don't have pads on so you're going at a slower pace by the time you get pads on now you feel Invincible cuz you just had you know 10,000 tackles in a season with practices and games and everything now you now now you're lumped into it now you're shoot just that much better yeah that makes 100% sense um so I want to kind of move back a little bit so you get the head job at Tucson High you take over a program that's three and seven and that had four uh four coaches in four years I think mhm what was it like day one going in there with kids that probably like like for the first time having a guy that's going to give him everything they got it it was funny cuz like day one I show up and it's it's not like I had just gotten hired and it was I was I was showing up to go do some like admin work or something like that and like I pull up and I park and right when I get out of my car I have like 15 kids from the football team like they knew I was coming someone told them whatever and they're standing there to greet me I was like all right this is cool like say what's up and I'm like why the hell aren't you in class and they're all like looking at me I'm like get to freaking class like what are you doing I'll see you in the wait room soon and then we go I see him in the wait room everyone has like earrings headphones on mismatched stuff and I'm like yeah we got we got a lot of work to do so you know right away it started in the wait room and I'm I'm I'm watching them and I'm not fully cleared yet and I'm watching them and like they're working out and everyone's doing their own thing and chitchatting and I'm like I cannot do this so like immediately medely I like you know blow the whistle get them all huddled up tell them grab a 45lb plate and for the next hour they just did whatever I said and I was like welcome to Tucson High like things are going to change now and then it was cool cuz those seniors could have really turned on me they could have been like you know screw this guy we're not doing that instead they bought in like they wanted to salvage whatever they had left of their High School career and you know we were led by Prince mcusa and and he really bought in and and made the team Buy in and you know that senior group really came alive like I mean we had some bumps in the roads but we weren't getting blown out like Tucson High had used to be getting you guys were blown out guys your last game you 81 to zero against no G School record by the way but uh oh shoot yeah so so it it was pretty crazy but you know you get on them and they hone in and the seniors were just like we're losing close games like we need to lock in that much more more so then they start locking in more and more and more and then we just go on a tear the last you know few games of last four games of the Season we just start you know really coming together as a team what was the kind of reaction of kids did you guys have guys quit all of a sudden cuz with me um I was in college and all of a sudden my coach actually gets fired for violating covid rules okay and we get a new guy and it's kind of like 100% different we're having guys quit left and right cuz they just couldn't handle it was there a situation where like you kind of see these guys aren't going to make it cuz they can't handle this new style no no actually it was like the opposite like young kids want to get coached hard so once everyone knew what was going on and you know a t-shirt goes a long way give them a t-shirt give them some shorts give them another t-shirt feed them right now they're like oh no this coach like he knows what's up so like you know just by doing the little things now all these kids want to come out and like get the T-shirt get the Jersey get even if they're not going to play they're going to be on the sideline yeah right and and the whole thing about team is like I don't give a [ __ ] if you are the last kid on our depth chart you have a role on our team right and that role might be doing stats might be filming or that role might be getting the varsity team ready in because you're a good scout team player you're watching the film of the team we're about to go against and you understand your assignment to help the starters that much more right and when when you see like when that happens and then we're beating teams and now those dudes get to go in the starters are invested they're watching they're they're cheering on their teammates so that's how it has to be you know of course you're going to get some of the kids that rebel against that style of coaching and everything they don't think they're starting or you know they were the best player before I got there and now they you know don't think they have to work as hard well I don't care like great you're good I don't need you in my program if you're going to act like that so leave yeah and you know once I think they saw me doing that to some of the really good talented kids they were like okay like we're not going to act like this we got to act a lot better and that's what changing the culture is that's awesome so last week we had Jess gone who's a football legend and he really talked about that as a coach or not just a coach you're also a figure in their life to help them to get not only the next level but to college and one thing when I was researching you saying you're already raised in the GPA of your football team how are you doing that are you establishing more study hall or h no it's still the same study hul hours and everything like that but you just have to let them know like this is a complete buy like if you need tutors I'll go get you a tutor um you know nutrition goes a long way too you know like being able to feed these kids like now they're like thinking their their their habits are changing right we did 6: a.m. lifts so start out the day you're you're already pushing your body and I truly believe if you have a good start everything else will fall in place right so our team GPA was like at of out of 1.9 to 2.1 depending on where we were at in the season we were able to get that all the way up to a 3.0 that's czy and that's as a program so I knew that was going to be very very important that was one of the things I wanted like like when I was getting interviewed I said our grades will go up right cuz the way football works now I believe in our in our community football is first for the school is the first sport to be played and it sets the tone for that school year if you have a good football team a good football program you're going to have a good school year right because there everything else will fall in line it's just naturally how it works like look at you know South Point look at look at just all the big Powers right you have a good football team you'll have a great school I truly believe that and that's what I'm trying to you know show with us right start with our GPA it starts with us in the weight room and then it's with our nutrition and everything else and then we'll go win some games right heck yeah so you had the opportunity to coach bejn Robinson y just talk about how is that what makes that guy so much better and different than kind of everyone else cuz the guy's killing at the NFL and what was kind of his style like would just a guy that's always in the gym M you know I think faith comes first right his faith is the highest thing for him and I believe that you know having that great of a relationship with God and putting God first and everything like that that he has been blessed right he has this natural talent that no one else has but the difference is I mean I would say a lot of people actually have close to that Talent Across the Nation maybe not here in Tucson but um he's a generational talent but when you have a generational talent that knows hard work uh and and has that grit that will outwork everyone yeah and has that mindset now you got a Hall of Fame player and I think that's what Ban's going to be like you know he is going to outwork everyone CU he always thinks someone's outworking him right um and and that that's really the beauty of him right like he will like when I was coaching him I try to do things that were so out of his realm it was going to be so hard for him to do and all the other running backs and he was just like all right yep let's do it and then I mean I was I was really hard on him because I knew how great he was and I I just wanted to instill that principle of like if you go work hard as hard as you can games are going to come super easy and everything else will become super easy but what you do behind the scenes behind closed doors and everything like that that will come to light right so work hard now suffer as much as you can now and like kind of like Muhammad Ali like you know work now and live the rest of your life like a champion yeah do what others won't so I can do forgot how that quote goes but so switching over from South Point to TU High what were the biggest differences and just kind of overall challenges it could be challenges with equipment it could be challenges with the football field the uh alumni Foundation what were the biggest obstacles that you had to face your first year well the first you know right when you get there there you know money is a huge thing right like you need to make sure that you're funded correctly and didn't have a booster club at the time didn't know where to get money and you know at when I first got there we the whole program was sharing one Jersey right there was a home in away jersey the whole program wore so if freshman wore it on Thursday it was getting washed for Varsity to be ready on Friday dang yeah it was it it was a mess right and you know so you know I had to start reaching out to people and you know uh Donnie at get it in you know at at at a drop of a dime made sure that we had brand new jerseys and you know there was a little snaf who at first but he made sure to write all the wrongs and make sure that we were set up how we needed to be so shout out to get it in you know what I mean you see them all over the Youth Level right now and then you know Levi Wallace you know Levi Wallace is a huge you know he plays for the Broncos huge Tucson guy loves Tucson you know and ask him and he said Zack whatever you need helmets whatever you need I got you right he wants to see Tucson High do well so between those two people they made it happen we were able to get black jerseys everything like that um so money was a huge thing and then just you know administrative buyin right like I came there to shake things up and I don't know if they were ready for things to sh higher ups or anything like that we I was talking to Jeff skars and man he's he was battling the admin and everything like crazy when he was at R Rico Sabino it's just they're not I I don't think they're ready for the change right right like cuz you know it's it's a complete 180 of what's been happening there and you know there we've had our battles but like we're we're working together and we're working in the right way it's just there's certain things they need done on their end and there's a timeline that I need to do better on and have them do better on hey coach let me ask you a question yeah I got you I'm here in the director box how does the community help with some of this administrative stuff from like what whatever is happened at the district or whatever how do how does the community help with the buyin from the school in the district what can they do to like help your program out a little bit more I know money is probably something we could always say hey let's contribute a little more we can do more with it but what about the the uh I guess you would say the bu bureaucratic aspect of it I'm sure there's things and challenges you come across so so they they have like some of them like you know what I mean like like we have a tea club and a badger foundation and what they've done is they've really you know you you know have been my voice when sometimes I'm not heard right like cuz it's like those are the ones I have to go to to like try to get funding for certain things like hey I need this like but then they don't agree that they should be paying that they think the school should be paying that and vice versa and now everyone's like fighting where it's going to come from I'm like well I still need it so go get it now so it's like it's one of those things but you know it's I think I think it's worked out well like you know they they're starting to come by a lot more and my biggest thing is with with with them is I try to VP them out as much as I can but they like like like I still need them to come like Tucson High like you guys say like like I need the faithful there right so yeah shout out to all the alumni better be showing up to Friday Night Lights yeah yeah yeah you know and and more than that I want them I want it's called the Hall of Champions right those football those great football teams because Tucson High has the richest history in winning in all of almost in all of Arizona right baseball has the National Record for all the sports are legendary yeah but in the 9s right so those dudes are getting older I need them to come and instill some of that hard work grit that they had back then right so I want all them to come to Tucson High and be like this is how things were done yeah right you think it's a lot different now than I know we talked about it before but you think it's a big difference in like 10 years ago when you were in high school yeah definitely like you see it like I said like like they're not kids aren't going and playing football for fun no more they just do it like when they have a game or when they have practice they're not living it 24/7 like that's that's what I did like we played football all day long and then the lights you know street lights come on we're pushing the envelope a little bit then you better hurry up and get home would you ever do uh what we used to do we used to get our cars and put the when the lights would go out in the field we used to put our cars and freaking uh our car lights for our lights for practice okay dude what is this Field of Dreams or what I had to do it man we can just cut the lights on we'll be all right dude okay so my my my dad's super old school when it comes to baseball he what um you used to have us practice in the dark to get like our hand ey corination better better that's pretty cool but imagine the freaking baseball coming at you and you could even can't even see it no no no I'm I'm not a baseball guy by any means I've tried but it swings don't work sh all right guys we are going to ad one more time see you guys in a little bit hi I'm Alan Murdoch for the past 20 years I've been buying fixing and selling properties right here in Southern Arizona and I want to buy your property whether it's a house apartment commercial building or vacant land regardless of the condition or the situation I want to talk to you when you sell to me I pay cash and it's hasslefree no repairs no closing costs and no commissions if you have a property you don't want to deal with and you want a quick solution call text or visit sell talent.com again that's sell talent.com discover the power of 88 crime where your anonymous tips are rewarded with cash when you call in anonymously with the tip you are given a code with the code and a password you can walk into a bank and redeem your reward anonymously if your anonymous tip results in a felony arrest you can claim up to $2,500 cash reward let's stop the silence on crime and strive for a safer Community for more information please visit 88.org or call 88 crime Copper Creek Cookies Copper Creek Cookies Copper Creek cook.net we can print anything on our soft vanilla local cookies we deliver them and other sweet treats locally we are located at 4249 West AA Road Sweet 1221 call us 5203 01131 we bake Smiles Copper Creek Cookies Copper Creek Cookies Copper Creek cook.net this the show is sponsored by jet Sports training building speed agility and power from youth to Pro their Tucson's leading Sports Performance start your journey to Greatness today with jets sporting check them out on Instagram Jets sporting or their website Jets sporting.com there is a lot of digital marketing and digital advertising agencies throughout the US and I see a new new one pop up every day but we stand out because of our Community impact our client relationships delivering and doing what we say that's a key thing right a lot of places will tell you hey we're going to do this they don't communicate to you we're in communication with you you're going to always get that real small business feel from us you're going to have ways to contact us ask us questions right because we want you to do better but we want to be better every day as well and we're always innovating we're always coming up with new ideas new ways to win applying for new platforms and even creating some of our own platforms is some of the stuff we have going forward so I would say that's what sets us [Music] apart now all right shout out to live the dream let's go baby what a promo right there yeah thanks man thank you sho so with me I've had mentors all my life coaches are really good at building relationships cuz it's important to have a relationship with your leader basically how do you keep building relationships with your guys here at Tucson High and why is it important to build these relationships I think you just got to be genuine right like a lot of people who know me will say like I'm I'm a pretty genuine person like I'm going to tell you the truth always no matter what if you like it or not right and I I I think people really respect that right like don't don't be fake about things like just just be real right and sometimes it might come off as harsh but that's okay like you know what I mean they ask the question or they need to hear it and like I'm I'm not embarrassed by that either like if I'm not doing my [ __ ] or sorry if I'm not doing like FCC regulat man you can say you can say whatever you want here let's [ __ ] go like I know I know a lot a lot of people always get on me for my cursing but I mean it's just part of it but like my coaches always like hold me to a high standard too if I'm messing up like need to let me know like coach we need to get better at this and my mentors tell me that in in in life and I've never you know shied away from criticism in anything right cuz that's how you get better and you know constructive criticism is real it's either you can deal with it or you cannot and that's that's the difference and there's different ways you have to coach different kids but I mean this is a relationship business this is a kid business right so you have to manage them in a different way some some I have to throw my arm around and I have to find different ways coach them some I could MF them and they'll get the message and they'll go deliver what I need right but not all of them are like that and people are like that too so it's just trying to find the balance of how you could deal with that it's interesting you brought that up coach because there's just some kids that respond to that stuff man like they grew up in that kind of that culture at home or whatever it is where like business meant a couple curse words came at them and stuff like that and you'll see those ones that like Snap into it man it's interesting you're bring that up because I know parents sometimes can get a little sideways on the issue with that but that's just the truth sometimes man like you've got you've got to coach so many different household cultures MH and it's just like this huge Dynamic that you've got to face so like have them navigate that man I'm glad you brought that up people just don't understand that that you can't just approach it one way yeah and Tucson's Tucson H is very diverse man like and the all over all over the place all walks of life you know what I mean and it's a huge Melting Pot so I I love it you know I'm up for the challenge and I I get along with all of them right I'm sure some of them want to like punch me in the face at times but you know what I mean I welcome it you ever race the guys like you guys were doing at practice on Tuesday no no no no that those days are done for me like you know what I mean I pulled my hamstring one too many times and I cannot it's not just roll out the balls and go play anymore like if I'm doing that I need to have you know a proper 30 45 minute stretch before I do anything athletic anymore but every once in a while man you only 32 or 30 31 hey man once you get over are different Beast man I'm 35 I feel you coach but you know what I mean every once in a while like I'll grab a kid like you know what I mean like I think blocking is huge and tackling is like really huge like and you know I'm a physical dude I love to tackle right yeah so I'll go tackle a kid every once in a while and like just show as an example or like get my hands on someone and show them how to block like the physical things I'll do but running nah I'm good yeah I saw you punting on Tuesday too yeah so I I I could do I could do a few things like I I I've always thought thought I can kick very well I wasn't trying to punt like I was trying to have them learn how to block the punt so I wasn't like getting my full leg into it but yeah it was pretty cool cool um so I'm going to take it back a little bit more because I want to hear more about this story you talked a lot about your grandmother so you were raised by your grandmother yes so I I was raised by my grandmother um and you know me and her had a really really great relationship right she was the one always made sure I was at every practice was at every game right like my grandma was right there loved her death and you know my sisters were always tagging along too because like you know it's funny cuz very few people call me zachie but like anyone who knows my grandma if you know my grandma that was what she called me and you're probably calling me zachie so it was really cool man it it was a really cool Dynamic you know it I I was very fortunate and blessed to you know be able to be raised by her and and be around her for so long and and you know it's just uh you know she's great people you know all grandmas are I'm I'm a Grandma's Boy What's um looking back what's probably the number one lesson you've learned from her be authentically you right don't be scared to punch someone in the mouth if they need to get punched in the mouth right that's that's my grandma so you know that that's that's basically what she's taught me like stand up for yourself stand up for others and if you have to fight fight is that kind of how you established your coaching style too cuz when I was at practice and talking for you you're like you're always down you're down for whatever happens whatever it takes to win uh well calm down I'm not down for whatever it takes to but or what a coach does like yeah you know like we're going to we're going to do everything we can we're going to try to flip every Advantage we can in our favor right if that's field position manipulating penalties everything like sometimes it's good to take a penalty right sometimes it's good to you know set the tone sometimes it's good to manipulate the high school rules because they're not the same as the NFL rules so just trying to to show different ways on how to do that I think is very beneficial speak about setting in tone freaking when my freshman year when we played in the state championship game my coach was like all right we're hitting the first guy to set the tone yeah first guy the first guy I B freaking boom right in the back set the tone Perfect Dude I love it I love it awesome and kind of staying on family um I know I know you probably put a bunch of hours in just being a head coach but how do you balance making time for family and making time for your second family which is your football team so it's I struggle with it I'm not I'm not going to lie I'm not going to say I'm perfect like right like 8:00 my phone's going off like get your ass home right so trying to make sure I do all those things right to you know keep my wife happy keep my family happy but more importantly like I have the coolest job in the world I'm a football coach I get to bring my family to work every day right so my kids being there is huge right I need to see them they need to see me they get to see me work my other coaches if if you need to bring your kids come bring them this is a family first atmosphere right and Coach Bay kind of showed me that so I always love having my kids there I love having my coach's kids there and at no point like you know just you know on Saturday one of my players was like hey coach I can't come to practice like it's a 6: a.m. practice I have to watch the kids I'm like I have two car seats thr in the car seats make sure they're up he was were a little bit late you know what I mean everything's expected when there's little kids involved but you know they got to come to practice they got to be my assistants for the day and they were running around and our Saturdays are crazy we have practice then we lift and then we watch film so they got to see all three of those things and they got to see how you know amazing their older brother is that's awesome I mean that's awesome that um like what my coach saying I'm giving you guys every everything you need there's no excuses so for you to kind of do that kind of show is like we're going you're going to do anything you can for your players no for sure I mean like we have kids traveling from all over the place and our coaches will go pick them up if they need it right like we are a players first program and we understand there are a lot of things that happen just keep us involved let us know like we'll we'll work around it and there there's a solution to all problems I just got to know I just got to know what the problem is I'll find the solution that's awesome so looking for what do we have to look forward to this season how who do we who who are the stars coming up who are the upand comers who do we need to keep an eye on um well I have a really really good freshman uh you know Spivey Ezra Spivey I would say pound-for-pound he's the best freshman in town I think he should be on everyone's freshman watch list freshman of the year I think he is a very very special talent and I don't think there's much kids like him his football IQ is through the roof um and then some of my sophomores I have Isaiah too he plays you know gol hard a little bit of linebacker a few other things I think he's going to be very very good um I mean we just have so much talent it's hard just to name one like every time because I know I'm going to forget someone like I did the last media day uh one of our Juniors emerging Juniors is OE simmers he was up at the OT 7s and everything like that dude's blazing fast um he's in your face you know his style like I really like his style like you know what I mean like he's not your typical high school kid like he is uh he's very unique has his own little clothing brand and everything like that so oh dang he's entrepreneur already yeah yeah yeah he and you know he loves like the graffiti aspect of life and stuff like that so I I really really appreciate that um and he has like that same style of play like you know he he he's a good kid man I I I like him a lot uh and then Senior you know Kevin Kevin's Kevin's a big senior for us who I think is going to do very very well um but you know head top to bottom like I have freshman making plays I have you know sophomores I have a few sophomores at starting I have a a center that's going to start this year you know what I mean Javier I think he's very very good um my you know Isaiah Reyes like are you kidding me like we were fortunate for him to come over from Foothills like he's going to lock down our line for us this year he's he's a big nasty kid that I think every offens in line needs so I can't wait to see him get after it and M some dudes today and then you know defensive wise like you know I I have this like little itty bitty defensive tackle that is just all heart and like his game shows like right like so he's going to run around he's going to make play tonight taan and he's just like he's he's just going to do big things like I I I truly see him having a huge season this year undersized dude but like plays like Aaron Donald like you know what I mean he demands double teams demands triple teams and if you don't he's going to make you pay and then and then you know I have a few transfers that are going to come in late like you know Jayvon from South Point he's going to he came over he's going to do very very well for us and then Jared from pleo he came over that dude is tough as nails like he's going to really do well for us at the linebacker level and you know Chase Morland like like like the list goes on like you know I mean we have a player's first program and players are recognizing that and they love our school so why wouldn't you want want to come play for Tucson High and you know put Tucson on your chest no one else can getting in the big teab back man yeah so we're getting close on time so I want I want to have some fun questions man I cool cool cool rip them all right so funniest moment you had as as a football player funniest moment I had as a football player well okay so funniest moment um my papa warner team we were really really good so we were always in Nationals right and we go to Nationals and um I mean we're you middle school kids are middle school kids right so I was a middle school kid and we're going up the elevator and this really really drunk guy steps on this elevator and he's on the elevator and it's just us and our teammates like the group that I was with parents didn't come he comes drops his wallet and had a lot more money than we had ever seen right so one kid starts grabbing they all start passing out this money leave the wallet there and we were right next to a Mall of America so we go go to the Mall of America get everyone like our whole team like like it's not like like we felt like Robin Hood like you know what I mean like we went and everyone got something oh nice right and then we come back with pizzas everything like that so like in a matter of seconds it was all gone and then like you know like that was probably like the funniest thing that ever happened like the thing that I remember and I mean it probably was not something we should have done but like the dude was kind of being an [ __ ] so yeah you know what I mean deser you shouldn't have dropped your money sorry bud all right so I ended up getting two questions from your guys' players I'm not telling you who all right all right but I think they're kind of using it to kind of have one up uh favorite guilty pleasure show favorite guilty pleasure show that you wouldn't want anyone to know that you watch or something I watch I don't really watch a lot of TV what's something I watch that's like kind of funny I don't know the righteous gemstones okay I mean that's not that about it one of them was like it could be funny if it was watching like some Disney show or something oh well yeah that happens all the time like I have four little kids so ditto man yeah I'm always on Disney plus yeah yeah dude Disney plus is the truth you know what I mean like we were watching inside out and Elemental like I watch I find myself watching Little Mermaid like every day now so oh shoot yeah and then last one a guilty pleasure song guilty pleasure song like I don't even know what that means like you mean like an embarrassing like you wouldn't want someone to see it on your you're listening to slen Deion or something like on the regular drive you know what I mean like I just put my like honestly to be completely honest with you I don't listen to music really you don't listen to like a hype song before the games or anything no I well no I don't I I'm usually just quiet calm collected like you know when I'm driving I'm on the phone like I rather like that's my time to call like my mom or call my sisters or something like so I don't really do too much like listening to music but I mean like right now like it's just team Kendrick like what you know hey I picked the right song for the intro video yeah they're not like us yep that's awesome um thank you for being on man good luck today go kill South Mountain and good luck for the rest of the season man I'm excited like I said I'm excited for you all come up with your camera if you're that excited you know come come be there any anytime you want all right anytime 7:00 in South Mountain I'll see you there then oh bro hey pay my gas and I'm down jump on the bus bro let's go jump on the bus I'll do that yeah I'll do that sometime this year thank you guys see you guys next week we got uh Mir heads coach thank you [Music] guys thank [Music]