Preview:
We’re excited to bring on a guest today that college football fans will know well. Larry Fedora, the former head coach at North Carolina and Southern Miss, was one of the best offensive minds in the game, but a decade before he got his first chance to lead a program, he was coaching Ryan at Air Force.
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TuneInMore About This Episode:
Today we’re going to catch up with Coach Fedora to reflect on a successful career in the sport. We want to hear some of his best stories about Air Force and other stops, but we’ll also talk about life off the field as well. From a social media picture that went viral to a weightlifting scare, this show will cover a lot of ground with someone we respect highly. Plus, we’ll get his opinion on the state of college football and whether he’s happy to be enjoying retirement rather than being back on the grind in this new landscape.
Here’s what we cover in this episode:
0:00 – Intro
0:50 – Championship team at Air Force
4:34 – Position coach vs Head coach
7:45 – Demar Dotson story
10:26 – Managing different personalities
12:46 – Differences coaching at Air Force
14:09 – Favorite recruiting stories
16:36 – Enjoying retirement
21:02 – Social media photo
22:53 – How he met his wife
27:10 – Handling adversity
30:21 – Turning 60 and the workout accident
36:05 – Where he draws motivation from
40:39 – Meeting Michael Jordan
46:12 – Red Bull
48:14 – Current landscape of college football
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Episode Transcription:
(Note, this is an automated transcription. Please forgive any errors.)
Walter Storholt 00:01
Welcome to the pilots advisor with Ryan Fleming of first officer with FedEx on the triple seven at the hill. On this show will delve deep into tailored financial strategies, insights and wisdom crafted exclusively for those who rule the skies will help you navigate your financial flight plan with the same mastery you exhibit in the cockpit Prepare for takeoff into a journey of financial clarity and empowerment. The pilot’s advisor starts now. Welcome to today’s episode, join us for a special conversation as we dive into leadership, perseverance and football’s impact with retired Head Coach Larry Fedora. Fedora is career highlights include pioneering offensive strategies, leading teams to victories in bowl games and championships and mentoring players who achieved greatness. He’ll share insights from starting as a position coach to becoming a head coach covering key victories recruiting and his influence on players careers. Fedora has earned numerous accolades coached at top universities and developed top talent throughout the years. Beyond the field he values resilience, hard work and positivity. He’ll share stories with us about his coaching days at the Air Force to his interactions with Michael Jordan, while the Head Coach of the University of North Carolina and ultimately giving us his insight into some of the philosophies that have shaped his career and his outlook on life. This episode offers an inside look at a coaching legends journey with personal stories from fedora and Ryan Fleming who played under Fedora at Air Force, they will talk about their enduring friendship so prepare to be inspired, entertained, and viewfootball in life from a new perspective with Ryan Fleming of the pilots advisor and coach fedora. Let’s get to it. Welcome
Ryan Fleming 01:48
to another edition of the pilots advisor. Walter, thank you for that awesome intro. Obviously, we have a very special guest here with the premier college football player for many, many years. Coach, thanks for being on the show today.
Larry Fedora 02:01
You bet man, glad to be here and excited to spend some time with you.
Ryan Fleming 02:04
Well, I was thinking about this. And as scary as it sounds, I have to admit that it’s been over 25 years, since you were ripping my butt out there on the football field and thought it’d be nice to let our let our listeners at least know how this all started. You know, it’s
Larry Fedora 02:19
been about I think I’m sure I’ve ripped your blood since then. So you know, can’t be too bad.
Ryan Fleming 02:25
Oh, absolutely. It’s been continuous. Somebody’s got to keep me in line which, which is why I think you’ve had such a huge effect on my life. But so everybody knows, I guess it was circa 1998. I was a young cadet and football player at the Air Force Academy and you are a young hot. And I don’t mean hot by looks, I just mean fired up coach. At the Air Force, he was my position coach, as a wide receiver at the Air Force Academy. I was trying to fight to even get on the field at that point. But Coach, you had a major effect on me because it I mean, you were definitely hard on me. But I think it taught me how much hard work it was gonna take to get on the field and try to be a player at that level. Well,
Larry Fedora 03:04
I appreciate you saying that. Right. I you know, those are the those are the things that make a retired football coach make their chest swell out a little bit is to know that they had a positive impact on some of the former players. And I do that was a you know, that year was pretty special. 98 was a pretty special year, you know, when the what was at the wack conference championship that year. And so it was it was a pretty special years, a lot of good things going on. And you know, y’all were a great group of guys that we could, that, you know, I could push really hard, you know, and that was my specialty, I could push people really hard. Yeah.
Ryan Fleming 03:39
And we’re going to talk about this a lot on the show, because you never got to see me develop into a player in life is all about adversity and bad things are going to happen to you. And it’s kind of funny, because when those events happen, you kind of find out who you are. And that season and you may or may not remember this, but I was fighting to try to get on the field and try to get that third spot. And I was on the kickoff return team. Spot.
Larry Fedora 04:06
That’s that’s what’s incredible. Right there. Third spot.
Ryan Fleming 04:10
Well, we had Dylan Newman, we had Matt farmer already out there. And as battling out with Mike Baron to try to get on the field a little bit. Yeah. This is how it goes down. And we’re going to talk about a little bit of the adversity I faced that year. So So I was on kickoff return. And of course we’re running through and evidently you didn’t like my effort on that last play, which was pretty normal. So you had told me to go well, I only know if we’re allowed to say this nowadays a cultural basically you better go hit that guy and then blindside them and get them on the ground. Well, I went full speed and I did all those things. The problem was that that in a freak accident that guy Shin er knee went right through my shin and and shattered my tibia. You remember that day?
Larry Fedora 04:53
I do remember that day? Yeah, I remember. And I did. I think I think I You know, jumped on you about laying on the field for too long and told you to get your butt up and get off the field. That’s
Ryan Fleming 05:06
exactly what happened before the ambulance took me away, he was yelling at me and say, Get off my field. So, so anyway, we ended up winning a championship that year, Coach, you had a lot of other opportunities, you’re, you know, young, fiery coach, and you ended up leaving that, that I think that December for other opportunities, which, you know, of course, I was heartbroken. But I was back back trying to fight my way back just from an injury and see if I could come back and play over again. So I definitely remember that. But here we all are, all these years later, still in touch. And you’ve had an amazing coaching career, which we’re going to talk a lot about that, but I wanted to at least let everybody know, how we met how we know each other. And, you know, at that point in time, you were a position coach, where your full time job was to make my life miserable, right? Part of it? Yeah. So how does that change as you go up through the college ranks and become a coordinator, and then you know, then you’re the head coach, and you know, you’ve coached at every level doing that, because then you have, you’re worried about all the other coaches and almost everything that’s going on in an organization. Yeah,
Larry Fedora 06:09
so as a position, you know, Coach, your, you’ve got, you know, however, many guys say, 10, or 12, guys in that room that you are responsible for, and you’re responsible for every aspect of their life, whether it’s on the field or off, you know, and, and you’re, you’re trying to teach those guys what it takes to be successful and, and pushing them beyond what they think they can go. So they can go even farther, you know, and you hope, in the long run, that those lessons that they learn are going to carry them through life, right. And so then maybe you move from there, I moved up to be a coordinator, well, now, you’re just running the entire office, you know, you’re managing four or five coaches, position coaches that are managing their group now. And then from there, you go to be a head coach, and now you’re just managing 10 coaches, that all are still position coaches. And on top of it, you’re managing an offensive defense and special teams as far as units. And so, you know, it just the responsibility grows. And but, you know, hopefully, your philosophy and the thing that you built, the philosophies that you built along the way are what carry you through all that? Well,
Ryan Fleming 07:19
absolutely. And I don’t think many people I’ve been lucky enough to be around college football quite a bit, even through like, uh, you know, my 30s and 40s. And being a head football coach is like being a CEO, it is a ton of responsibility. It’s a full time job. I remember actually went spend a couple days with you when you were at Florida. And as much as I love college football, it quickly taught me that, hey, maybe this isn’t for me. And I remember a great quote that you said, from that you remember what it was?
Larry Fedora 07:47
I’m not sure if I remember correctly, I it may have been something along the lines that if you can live without the game of football, you probably ought to go do something else. And
Ryan Fleming 07:56
that’s exactly what it was. And I am going to keep putting you on the spot. Just Just so you know. All right. Well, you’re testing my memory. When you’re getting old now to know. Yeah. So reflecting back on your coaching career, you know, to be a little bit more serious. You know, and I know you’ve got you’ve coached so many players, you’ve been at different universities, different teams, but what do you see as one of your most rewarding experiences through that time?
Larry Fedora 08:20
Yeah, that’s, that’s a great question and a tough question. Because, you know, 30, what, 37 years of coaching football, it’s, you know, you have great experiences every single day, you know, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have done it. But some of my favorites, I mean, I went on that in the Mountain West Conference Championship in 98. Taking a team as a head coach and winning a conference championship and Conference USA at Southern Miss in 2011. You know, winning division championship in the ACC 2015 at North Carolina. I mean, those are those are highlights, but I mean, there, there are so many I mean, I’m gonna give you one that will blow your mind. There was a young man who came into my office when we were at Southern Miss probably about 2009. He was a basketball player there at the school. I’d never met him to know who he was. Name was Gabor Dotson walked in my office, basically sat on the couch and told me he had his eligibility was up and basketball. He had one semester left. And he wanted to play college football. What I allow him to walk on the football team, you know, and so I asked him a lot of questions about who he was and all these things and boiled down. Okay, what position did you play in high school? Well, I didn’t play in high school. I just played basketball. Okay. All right. Well, what position did you play in junior high? I didn’t play Junior High. Okay. Pop Warner, what? What position Have you ever played in the game of football? And he said, Coach, I’ve never played football in my life. And I said, you know, we got a pretty good program. It’s a division one program and you’re wanting to come out here and play football for the first time. I said tomorrow, you know, I don’t know if that’s a great idea or not, you know, and I said, What’s your dad think? He says, Well, he said My dad thinks I’m a, you know, well, he I will, I’ll use the words that he were that he used, but he just said, my dad thinks I need to go to Europe and play some basketball and make some money, you know, and make a long story short Damar, I talked to the basketball coach said, he’s a great kid, he’s gonna be a great teammate, all those things. And so we allowed him to come out and play football with us. He played maybe about seven, eight plays a game on the defensive line. And he a scout came through at the end of the year and asked Who was that big, tall, good looking guy. And I told him the story. And I said, you know, I told the scout, I said, he needs to be playing Offensive Tackles. That’s what he is. He’s a long, he could move his feet, all those things. So they took him. He went to Tampa Bay, he made the 53 man roster, and he played about 11 or 12 years in the NFL and had a lot of success. But the most special part about it is still to this day, he’ll text me on Father’s Day, he’ll text me on Christmas or a holiday and just tell me how much he appreciates what I did for him. And so that means a lot to me. Well, absolutely,
Ryan Fleming 11:03
I’m sure it’s about the relationships, and I’ve heard a lot of great stories over the years. And, and I think as time goes on, you know, the wins and losses, and of course, I love watching college football on Saturdays and, and seeing it all, but there’s a stories behind the game. I think that does a lot for me, and, and you know, multi sport athletes, that’s definitely I definitely believe in that. And that’s a great case of that. But more than anything, this game is about life lessons, this game is about, you know, learning how to lead and being a leader, being a part of something bigger than yourself, how you’re gonna get knocked down. So how are you going to get back up, because, because that’s life. And so when I look back on it, that’s why I love sports. That’s why I love football. And I think one of the things that you are so good at was getting the most out of every little player that you coach, but everybody has different personalities. And I thought you were amazing at seeing how to handle certain people differently. And can you talk a little bit about that? Well, I
Larry Fedora 12:00
think you know, to be a good football coach, or to be a good coach, you have to identify all the personalities that you’re responsible for. And you have to find out what makes each one of those guys tick, what’s going to motivate, you know, this guy compared to this guy, some guys, you got to pat on the back, some guys, you got to kick in the ass, or in the rear end, excuse me. You know, so the coach, it just depends. And so you got to learn, you know, your team, you got to learn how these guys are motivated. And then you have to motivate them, you got to do it all within, you know, within the same talk or the same room or the same, you know, and so sometimes you got to take the guy side, you got to pat him on the back and you got to you got to show him some love. And then the other guy’s you got to just push as hard as you can possibly push them, you know? And so it’s just, I think that’s one of the things that maybe you can’t treat everybody the same. I mean, you just can’t, you’re going to be fair, but you can’t treat her by the same because they don’t all respond to the same way. Do you
Ryan Fleming 13:00
feel like you had more effect on players as a position coach than you did as a head coach, because just like you said, as a head coach, you’re almost talking to the whole team at the same time, you might have some small interaction in the locker room or passing by in the hallway. But But I would imagine as a position coach was where you really really got to know each one of those guys in your in your room. Yeah, there’s
Larry Fedora 13:21
no doubt that’s where you really build a true relationship. I mean, you know, because as a position coach, you’re having the guys come over to your house, eat dinner with you and your family, you’re getting to know them on a personal basis. Because like I said, You’re responsible for everything they do both on the field and off the field. And so you have to have that relationship. And it’s just, you know, what, 120 guys on the football team? I mean, it’s hard to do that as the head coach. I mean, you can’t build that type of relationship. I was fortunate because I never missed a quarterback meeting. I was in the quarterback meeting every single day. And so I got to build that relationship with those four or five guys in that room. But that, you know, that’s just a small part of the entire team. Yeah,
Ryan Fleming 14:01
absolutely. And I mean, I think you were one of the most brilliant offensive minds for for a while in the game. And you know, which is of course, why you had so many opportunities. I had to chuckle a little bit though, coach, because you know, when you were my position coach, with your vast military background, you knew a lot about what was going on up on the hill, at the Air Force Academy. Was that a little bit different than other places you coached? It was by
Larry Fedora 14:24
far the most different, you know, but at the same time, we were the most special places that I’ve ever coached. You know, I didn’t understand, you know, for me, it was about football and and and building you guys into the best players you could possibly be. And then also at the same time knowing that that was going to help build you into the best men that you could possibly be. I didn’t really understand the the military part was kind of taking away from that, you know, because you guys were doing all the other things that you had to do for the military. So I really didn’t really understand that even though coach Dewberry did a great job of trying to meet me under stand that I was a little stubborn and hard headed. And that’s not why I was, you know why I was doing what I was doing. And so, but it was an unbelievable experience. I mean, with unmatched quality quality people,
Ryan Fleming 15:13
well, you were the perfect break for me getting away from the hill and deal with the military stuff. And it was quite entertaining at times. One of the things I like to talk to coaches about the most, and you know, before I get into some personal stuff with what you’re doing now, is just hearing recruiting stories. I’ve been around the table listening to some coaches taught some recruiting stories, you know, and I know you can’t tell us everything, but there’s got to be one or two stories that you know, you walked into a house or you were in a certain town that, that people would like to hear about what goes on behind the scenes. Well,
Larry Fedora 15:41
there I mean, you know, every first of all, recruiting is not a cookie cutter thing. I mean, every single athlete that you recruit is totally different. I mean, totally different. And so I mean, you know, you go in, first of all, you got to do a lot of listening, as the recruiter, you got to find out what that young man is looking for what his family is looking for. And then you got to provide that for him, you know, you and they have to understand that the university that you’re at, is going to give them that best opportunity, the things that they’re looking for. But you know, probably one of my, one of my favorites was, was a young man who I was at Baylor University and and he was in Lawton, Oklahoma. And he was committed to Nebraska at that time. And he was, he didn’t like to fly. You know, it made him sick when he flew. And, you know, we were about four hours away. And so even though he committed Nebraska at that time, and then we’re talking about in the 90s. Now, early 90s, mid 90s, when Nebraska was in their heyday, I mean, they were winning national championships, you know, every other year, was to get him to come down to Baylor University and take a look at the university. And he did that. And, you know, you walked around no big deal and got on campus and walking around on campus. And he found out there was a, we had a live bear on campus, it was the Baylor Bears, right. They had actual live bear on campus in a den. And he was blown away by the fact that there was a live bear that he was actually going to look at. And he made this commitment. He committed to Baylor Bears because he had a had a real bear, and went on to be a first round draft pick to the Miami Dolphins. So it was it was a really good gift for us that we had a bear.
Ryan Fleming 17:25
Everybody needs something just a little bit different, huh? That’s exactly right. You’d never know. You never know what somebody’s looking for. Absolutely not. So coach. You know, I know we can talk about football all day long. And I’m gonna have some more. Some more conversations with you about that, for sure. I think you recently said which I thought was hilarious. You found out in retirement, that there’s actually people that don’t like college football. So what is retirement been been like for you? What are you doing now? How does your day? Look? I know you just came back from the ranch. Let everybody know where you’re living? I think they don’t want to hear that. Yeah. Well,
Larry Fedora 18:01
it was hard for me when I got out. I mean, you go 37 years and coaching football. And people really, truly don’t understand. I mean that you got about two weeks off a year, you know, you worked. Probably I think we were averaging about 47 of the weekends a year, you know, and so seven days a week, and you know, it was months on time, and you didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with your family, which was unfortunate. But it was the way it was, it’s what it took. And you know, so when I got out, I was blown away that there were people out there that really didn’t care who won on Saturday, you know, I mean, they didn’t even know games were going on. It was unbelievable what was going on out there in the world. I had no idea because I was so consumed and so narrow minded on the game of football and my you know, in the career that I chose. And so now now have retired. My wife and I are empty nesters. We live in Waco, Texas, and we spend our time traveling going to see friends we just got back from the state of Mississippi visiting friends that we had been with while we were out there coaching and you know, we’ve got that’s one great thing about the game of coaching. We were married 34 years, we moved 17 times, all around the country and we’ve got great friends all over the country. And so we get a chance to go visit them we like to hot fish and playing golf. Working out stay in busy I mean all the time. So it’s it’s like we really never have any any downtime. But it’s been a blast. Well,
Ryan Fleming 19:33
I’ve been lucky enough to get your to meet your family, your girls, your son Christy. I mean she is 3435 years now.
Larry Fedora 19:40
Yeah, we’re on 34 going on 35 Yeah, well, obviously
Ryan Fleming 19:43
she’s a saint, you know, not only to put off you put up with those moves. But what I thought was funny and I don’t think most people realize as well. Most of our listeners are probably pilots, many of them probably served in the military. And being a college coach is very similar to being In the military and having to move every two years, or you’re getting a call, and then you might be gone in a week and, and you know, the spouse, who are, you know, kind of picking up the pieces for a lot of it because you’re off and running and doing your thing. And I think it’s very interesting to see that, of course, it gives you all those these amazing experiences, but it’s hard on the family, oh, it’s
Larry Fedora 20:21
very difficult on the family. And I have an unbelievable wife, who basically raised our four children, and did a tremendous job, you know, and out of those 70 moves, I can’t tell you, if there may be maybe one or two that I was around, actually help with the move. I mean, because, you know, jobs come open at the end of the season and December, basically, and at that time, you head out and you leave, and you go to the next school, and your wife and children stay back and your wife has to, you know, finish out school or whatever you’re going to do and and get a house ready to sell, buy a new house at the new place all at the same time. orchestrate the move. And yeah, it’s it’s really hard. And it’s hard on your kids, because you’re, you’re pulling them out of schools all the time, you know, and I’m not whining about it, it is what it is, you know, and it always worried about the effect that was going to have on our on our children. But I can tell you, our four kids, if you ask them, they love the lifestyle. Maybe not at the time, but as they look back on it, they got to do some incredible things that other kids don’t have the opportunity to do. And so it’s it’s been a pretty special thing. Well,
Ryan Fleming 21:29
absolutely. And I think much like a millet to kids we call military brats. But much, much like brats, they become very resilient. You know, sometimes, in the day to day moves, it’s not easy to get making new friends at the new school. It’s not easy, but it makes you probably a much more resilient person over time. And at some point in time, you could probably look back and go, Hey, you know, maybe that was for the better. Yeah,
Larry Fedora 21:52
there’s no doubt. And one thing I’ll say about our four kids, we have a son and three daughters. And you know, is that when they get moved somewhere, they knew they had three friends immediately. Because their, their their brothers and sisters, we’re moving with them. And so it made them be tighter as a family unit. I mean, they’re very close and always have been. And so that’s been pretty special. Absolutely.
Ryan Fleming 22:15
Well, Coach, I have to have a little bit of fun with you. Since I have here on the podcast, I’m gonna go to an article that I’m probably going to link here. And I know, you know, in June and July gets a little rough. And there’s not a lot of stuff to talk about. But this article that I had back in the day, and I don’t know why this still pops up. But it talks about Larry Fedora having a visible six pack abs with a picture of you and mukade picture. I know it’s one of your daughters. Is that which one of your daughters is that picture of talking about? Yeah,
Larry Fedora 22:44
no, the picture. I mean, that’s my daughter, Sydney, and we were at the beach and destin in the two weeks that we got off. And she learned a great lesson from posting something on, you know, on social media, you know, and then ESPN ran with that, that that fall. So it was, yeah, it was interesting. Well,
Ryan Fleming 23:06
I remember because at that time, you were coaching in the ACC, and I felt like all they were talking about is your ads. And it was all over. And it wasn’t just like a couple of days. It was what was the conversation behind the scenes with Sidney, hey, look at the effect that this had.
Larry Fedora 23:23
Well, we talked we had a nice little talk about it, you know, and she was in high school at that time. She thought it was funny, you know, they all had a blast with it. I was trying to you know, here’s a life lesson right here, you know that you got to be careful about what you post and saw, I’m sure they learned something at my expense, you know, so it was, you know, it was good
Ryan Fleming 23:43
for that. Absolutely. And you know, that’s a conversation I have with my kids all the time because once it’s out there, it’s not going away either. This isn’t
Larry Fedora 23:51
just like you said you can pull it up right now if you on
Ryan Fleming 23:55
off. It’s still still right out there. I’m not I’m not sure if social media was like it is today that I would have graduated high school college. I don’t know. It would have been an interesting ride. That’s for sure. That is no doubt about that. Tell me about how you and Christie met. Yeah, so
Larry Fedora 24:10
we we went to it. We both. We were at a small school in North Texas, Austin College, the Austin College kangaroos. I went there to play football and Christy had gone Oh, you she’s from Dallas and she transferred to Austin College. And we were actually in a psychology class. That’s that’s where we actually met. Now. I had a class. I can’t remember what the class was, but it was a it was like an 8am class that that I sat behind her. Didn’t realize who she was, didn’t know her. I just remember I got there late. There was one spot open. I sat down and I sat behind this girl that had this big hair and you know bows in her hair. I mean, I couldn’t even see the front of the room basically. Amy err, right? Yeah. And so but psychology classes where we actually met because unfortunately, I didn’t have any books. And we got to beat for the first exam. And I kept noticing that this girl over here with the glasses was was taking a lot of notes. And so for the first exam, I just said, Hey, would you would you like to study for the test together? Because I didn’t have any notes. I didn’t have a book. And so that’s how we met. We studied together for our first exam and that psychology
Ryan Fleming 25:29
class that sounds about right, you need a little help. Yeah.
Larry Fedora 25:32
And I made a better grade than she did on the test.
Ryan Fleming 25:36
And she hasn’t lived that down to this day, I’m sure that there’s no no doubt. Well, I remember that I was getting married. And I asked Fisher, Coach Fisher to bury was at my, my wedding. And he stops my then fiance going down the aisle, and says, Kevin, are you sure you’re gonna do this? And that, you know, I’d sit here and worked on you know, get get her to say yes. And all this. And coach is trying to shut it down. Right at that very day, when
Larry Fedora 26:03
he was given her an out. That’s what he was doing.
Ryan Fleming 26:07
So I do apologize for my voice. By the way, I was with a bunch of guys hanging out watching the Super Bowl. And I, I woke up yesterday morning, and I barely had a voice. So it’s like, well, that’s great. Since I’m doing a podcast with coach, I’ll just have to make him talk a little bit more. So I know I called you not too long ago, because you always taught me that the two things that I can control in life. And it doesn’t matter what it is, it doesn’t matter if it’s practice, a game, business, flying airplanes, the only two things that I can actually control are my attitude and my effort. And it’s funny, because you beat that into me. And of course, and I’ve you know, told my kids that over and over again, when they have a tough practice or life doesn’t go their way. And I saw that my daughter had taken a marker, and she had written it on her leg prior to this big soccer meet that we had. So I had to take a coach and I had to take a picture and share it with you. That was funny, because the first thing he said was, was I hope that’s not a tattoo.
Larry Fedora 27:08
I was worried that it was a tattoo, I was glad to see, you know that she’s she’s learned that. That attitude and effort is all it takes. And but I was glad to know that what a tattoo also? Well,
Ryan Fleming 27:20
I guess I was to you know, society’s changed a little bit. There’s a lot more tattoos out there. But I don’t want that to happen until she’s at least out on her own and can make her own decision. So, yeah.
Larry Fedora 27:29
Brad is I mean, you know, when you think about Iran, I mean in and I know you’ve lived by that, but I mean attitude and effort that’s built. I mean, basically, that’s all it takes. If you got the right attitude, and you put the right amount of effort into it, you’re gonna get it done, whatever it is you doing in life, you’re gonna get it done. I mean, that’s not just sports, that’s, that’s everyday life. I mean, that’s all it takes. Well, the
Ryan Fleming 27:52
thing I’ve been amazed about, as I’ve been around, you know, if you’re around sports long enough, there’s coaches out there that are, you know, motivate you and, and it seems to me, like almost all coaches that are successful, are very good at motivating their players. And at the same time handling adversity, because things aren’t gonna go your way, you know, how are you going to Trent transition or, or Fido or whatever it is. And I think that, you know, that’s a huge thing that translates to life as well. You want to talk a little bit about that about handling adversity? And, you know, because I think that ties right in with attitude and effort. Well,
Larry Fedora 28:25
I think, yeah, you know, so for me, Ryan, I mean, my whole life just in the way I approached everything it was, you know, Adversity is common. I mean, you’re either everybody that’s listening, this podcast has either they’re either they got some going on some problem going on in their life right now. Or they just got out of a problem. Or guess what, here comes a problem, Something’s coming. So, you know, it’s all about it’s, it’s, it’s how you, you know, do you worry about problems? Do you worry about adversity? Do you the dreaded or do you you know, do you get excited about, you know, what sobs come? You know, and how am I going to attack this? How am I going to overcome this? I mean, that’s what life’s about. I mean, no one that problems are common. It’s how you attack them every day, do you? Do you look it in the eye? Do you grab it by the throat to choke the crap out of it? And know that you’re going to beat it every single time? Or do you lay down and give an do you say, life’s too hard? You know, I can’t do this. I don’t know what to do. You know, you’re not going to make it if that’s the attitude that you take in life. And so a adversity is common, you better just get excited about it, and you better attack it each and every day. Well,
Ryan Fleming 29:37
absolutely. And I know you got to know my dad. Did all the guys calm, sexy Rexy. But you got to know Rex, and one of the things he always said to me because because life was going to happen and something would happen. He goes well, how are you going to react? How you react to this right now is going to determine who you are and what everybody thinks of it. No
Larry Fedora 29:56
doubt I mean, it’s okay, let’s let’s take it to football. There’s got to be four or 567 bad things that happen in a game, every single game, I don’t care if you’re playing in the Super Bowl, or you’re on a seventh grade BT play it, something bad’s gonna happen a game. And the majority the time, the team that reacts to it the best as a team that’s going to be successful. You know, everybody talks about momentum. I mean, that’s how momentum is created by good and bad things happening in a game. So something bad happens, it’s how you address it. It’s how you what your attitude is going to be about it, how are you going to attack it, how you can overcome it, you know, and when you when you do that, and you do it enough, you gain confidence, knowing that you’re gonna have success, no matter what is thrown at you.
Ryan Fleming 30:40
Well, I think that’s a great message. And just being prepared for that and having the right attitude, just, you know, just, you know, being positive on most things help. I’m not always good at that I’m a little bit more of a realist, analyzing the whole thing versus having that positive attitude and knowing right away, that you’re going to take advantage and get through it.
Larry Fedora 30:57
Listen, some people think positive is a pie in the sky, you’re supposed to look through these rose colored glasses all the time. That’s not what being positive is positive is just knowing deep down inside, you’re going to have what it takes to get the job done. All right. Yeah. Doesn’t mean you’re not questioning yourself doesn’t mean that you’re not questioning, you know, hey, is this the right decision? Or is it not? It just means that you know what, I just know that if I have the right attitude, and I put enough effort into it, I’m going to make it the right thing. And I’m going to overcome this. It’s just that it’s that confidence of no one no matter what, no matter what it takes all overcome.
Ryan Fleming 31:36
Coach, how you’re, how old are you now? Am I allowed to ask that? Yeah,
Larry Fedora 31:40
I’m 61 years old. You You recently
Ryan Fleming 31:43
had a you’re in the gym working out? I think it was when you were 16, you wanted to prove to yourself that you were still a rock star. Okay, yeah. Now, I’m not going to share any that you want to talk about that at all. And you want me to tell
Larry Fedora 31:58
that story? I’ll tell the story. So you know, I was 16 years old, I was actually in the gym. And it was one of these days where there’s no one else in there. And so, you know, I was like, Okay, I’m gonna, you know, I was feeling kind of good. And I hadn’t dead lifted in a long time. And I thought, you know, what, wonder if I can still put some heavy weight on there, and deadlift, and so I put some weight on it felt kind of good. So I knew the last time I’d done, like four pounds when I was 50. And so I thought, Okay, well, I’m gonna put 400 pounds on there, and I’m gonna pull off the ground, you know, and so I, I set my camera up, so I could have proof that I was able to do it. And so I did it, it was extremely hard. And the next thing I knew was I woke up, I was laying on my back on the concrete. And I was kind of looking around and I didn’t know what happened, I saw the first time I’d ever passed out in my life. And so I really didn’t know what happened until I got my camera and watched the actual footage of me pulling it off the ground and passing out from the lack of oxygen. Well,
Ryan Fleming 33:01
I’m sorry, I think that that there’s not many people that are going to the gym consistently at 60 years old, let alone deadlifting 400 pounds, and I was lucky enough to see that video and you know, it’s it just reminded me of the way you are, I mean, it’s full throttle, and It’s mind over matter and here you are going in and saying well I might pass out but I’m going to do it first.
Larry Fedora 33:21
So I can’t I will I will tell you that my family was very upset especially all the daughters my my son thought it was was funny. But I had to promise my wife that I would not attempt to do that again and so I made that promise to her so I’m not going to do 400 pounds yeah you
Ryan Fleming 33:39
get your get your get a little older coach you might need a spotter or at least somebody there to help you help you walk around a little bit you know that would have been smart
Larry Fedora 33:46
to at least have another person in there to you know, to help me you know but yeah, so I’m I didn’t say I was smart on number two its
Walter Storholt 33:57
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Ryan Fleming 35:23
Well, I want to transition a little bit and have some fun with this, you wouldn’t know this. But the guy, the man that helps me produce my podcasts is Walter Storholt. And he happened to be at the University of North Carolina, back when you were there as the Tarheels head coach. So I want to bring him out here to say hi to you and ask a few questions and tell him how he knows you. Well, I’ll tell you there. Yeah,
Walter Storholt 35:48
Coach, it’s, it’s pretty cool to hear you guys go back and forth for this last half hour, because I remember the first time I met you, and I know that you’re not going to remember this because it was in a sea of a room of 1000 people when you were introduced as North Carolina’s head coach,
Larry Fedora 36:03
December 7, December 7 2012. I remember the
Walter Storholt 36:07
day very nice, very nice. And speaking of adversity, by the way, we were having all sorts of tech problems setting up our live radio broadcast that day. So I remember, you know, working through adversity to get everything pulled together just in time and problem solving on the fly. But it’s really fun, because I very much remember, when we talked after you were introduced to the to the big crowd, I remember saying on the air right after you left, I think I’m ready to go run through a brick wall. And I have a feeling a lot of people that meet you probably walk away with that impression. And it’s so funny, because I’m feeling the same way today. Just hearing some of your kind of philosophies and how it ramped up, you get the story of being in the gym at 60 lifting and going for that 400 pounds. So it’s it’s it’s a neat trip down memory lane for me, and also kind of just feeling that way again.
Larry Fedora 36:54
Well, it’s good to see again, Walter, I, you know, I, I can’t say that I actually remember meeting you new on that day. Because it was a lot of people. And it was a, it was a pretty mind blowing day. For me, it was kind of a dream. And it was exciting. And there were a lot of people that are shaking your hand and smiling and a lot of faces. And it’s just, it’s just kind of a blur. But it was it was a great day,
Walter Storholt 37:19
one of my questions for you, does kind of counter a little bit of what you just said you were never accused of of being smart, based on your weightlifting story. But I remember the big mantra at your time at Carolina was smart, fast and physical. And hearing that within the conversation about with Ryan about controlling your attitude and controlling your effort, being the two things that you put in front of you and make your main focus. It’s got me wondering, since we’ve talked so much about motivation, where do you draw those kinds of things from? Are they from your own life experiences, your mentors? And then how do you distill down alright, I think this is what I want to build my my season around or build my tenure around, where to coaches draw that kind of motivation from and, you know, come together with these different things that then guide their teams.
Larry Fedora 38:09
Yeah. So you know, they come from all over the place. First of all, you know, when you realize I was lucky, because I was a freshman in high school, when I knew I wanted to be a division one head football coach. And so at that point, I started building my philosophy, I started gathering information, I had some great coaches around me it though, you know, from early ages in life, that always had an impact on my life. And I knew I wanted to have that same impact on some young man’s life in the future. And so I started, you know, putting things away, I mean, things that motivated me or things that I thought were pretty cool out there that were there were that, you know, that people were doing nothing that I came up with, by myself. I mean, there, I didn’t invent anything, you know, I did a great job of just stealing things that I thought would be good, and that would fit our teams, and that, that I wanted our teams to emulate, you know, and so that’s kind of how you put your philosophy together. And if your philosophy sound, you know, and you believe in it, and you stick to it, usually you’re going to be successful. You know, it’s, especially when adversity hits so we hit Run and I just talked about a you can’t just you can’t panic, you know, you you have a philosophy, you stick with it, you know, you’re gonna be okay. And you you just push through. And so, but yeah, I think you get those ideas from everybody that you come in contact with, or stories that you hear, or maybe some of your own experiences in life. It’s
Walter Storholt 39:38
neat how you have to assemble what works for the group that you guys were mentioning earlier, but then also what works is on an individual basis for motivation that’s going to need to hear the challenges that you have to go through navigating that as a coach. Do you have a phrase or philosophy even though that you’re done with coaching, do you still do them personally? Do you have one for your retirement years or for your family?
Larry Fedora 39:59
Every Morning is going to be a great day I cannot fail, I can only learn and grow. I mean, and actually, I started saying that in 1996, when I went to the Air Force Academy, you know, it, five o’clock in the morning, I had it taped on a mirror, and I put it on my mirror. And I would when I would go in there to brush my teeth in the mornings, I would say it, I would, I would say it out loud. And my wife would always get mad because she’s still trying to sleep. And she hear me saying this, you know, and so then I started doing it, like in the shower, you know, and then it became just a habit, it was the first words, the first thought in my mind, when I wake up in the morning, it’s gonna be a great day, I cannot fail, I can only learn and grow. And man, that’s kind of how I set my mind every every day, you know, and doesn’t doesn’t mean that only good things are gonna happen to you that day, you know, but it kind of sets your mind for the track that you’re gonna be able to overcome anything that happens. Coach,
Ryan Fleming 40:55
when you were a head coach, were you still cutting the sleeves off your T shirts and doing push ups before meetings? No,
Larry Fedora 41:01
I didn’t cut the sleeves off any of my T shirts. And I wasn’t doing push ups before my meetings. I continued to work out. Yes, but No, I wasn’t doing that.
Ryan Fleming 41:11
When did you stop doing that?
Larry Fedora 41:13
I don’t really remember doing that. I mean, to be honest with you. So that would that must be some memory that you have. I
Ryan Fleming 41:21
think it happened because I’m pretty sure you also cut the sleeves off your Austin College jersey to show a little bit more of your arms even back then. Well, I
Larry Fedora 41:29
when my wife met me, I didn’t have a shirt with sleeves in it. Oh, so that was one of the things she taught me was to, you know, you can have shirts with sleeves on them. So yeah, so that was way back. That was way that was college? Well,
Ryan Fleming 41:45
obviously, you’ve touched so many players, you know, other coaches, I’m sure whether you’ve had a drastic effect on their lives, but you know, getting to do what you do, you’ve also got to meet some amazing people. And I have to at least ask, I mean, there’s a picture of you, shaking hands with Michael Jordan, right behind you. And obviously getting to coach at North Carolina getting to meet all those people that that is somebody that I don’t even know if I’d be able to say hi to him if I saw him and what was that? Like? And and what can you tell us about that relationship with Michael?
Larry Fedora 42:16
Yeah, the actually, the first time I actually got to meeting was at a hornet’s game, and, like, took me up to his box. You know, and I had even coached a game at that time. And, you know, he, they introduced me to him. And I was I couldn’t talk. You know, I mean, and I’m gonna tell you, I have, I’ve gone to the White House. I’ve shaken the President’s hands in the Oval Office. And but I couldn’t actually speak the first time that I met Michael Jordan, and what a unbelievable human being. And that picture actually is the ceiling is the roof game when he made that comment. And I got to spend time with him before the game, probably 2030 minutes just sitting there talking to him. After the game, and it was pretty special. He’s, he’s a pretty special person. He really is. I can
Ryan Fleming 43:07
only imagine. The person that I did meet, and I couldn’t talk was Jerry Rice. I was at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. That’s Kevin Green’s guest. And I saw Jerry and of course, I grew up, you know, wanting to be, you know, we all we talked about was Montana rice. And, and Jerry Rice, was it? You know, that was the guy. And I met a lot of great players that night. But I saw Jerry and I just like, you know, it’s kind of embarrassing, but that. Yeah,
Larry Fedora 43:35
you know what? I think they’re used to it. Yeah,
Ryan Fleming 43:38
well, him for sure. I had an interesting experience just happened. And of course, Walter will clean up this whole podcast and make it flow because he’s used to me jumping around and having no clue what we’re talking about. But that night, I was actually hanging out with Lavon Kirkland and Greg Lloyd for most of the night, I was hanging out with them. Well, guess who just came back to Clemson is in his on the staff now is Lavon Kirkland really, I’m here, like we used to hang out, you know. So it’s pretty wild. He was a grad and this came back on the staff. And so it’s pretty funny how the world just kind of goes around.
Larry Fedora 44:11
It really does. It’s a small world. That’s why you know, that’s why it’s a great lesson to always treat people the way they should be treated, you know, to treat people the way you want to be treated, because you never know what’s going to come around somewhere down the line.
Walter Storholt 44:26
I got to jump in with just one more and it’s more on the lighthearted side for your coach. And that would be when you were coaching Ryan, and you’re like alright, guys in the Air Force. He’s going to fly planes. Were you like, I don’t believe this or did you have full full trust that Ryan would be flying planes one day because Ryan plays this very, very humble approach. He’s a very smart person. And but he has this very humble persona. So I’m just curious as a football coach and with how hard you wrote him if you were like, Man, this guy’s we find planes one day or I don’t think he
Ryan Fleming 45:00
had high expectations of anything happening back then.
Larry Fedora 45:03
I will tell you, Walter, you know, going into that, you know, into that position room, you know, you have to remember that I’m in there with five or six, you know, cadets who didn’t really understand the military part of it. And I knew that every one of them in that room were a whole lot smarter than me. There was no doubt. I mean, they weren’t the academy. They weren’t, you know, United States Air Force Academy. And so I wasn’t sure after I got to know each one of them. I wasn’t sure. I was worried about our country. I was worried about if these were the leaders, you know, of our of the future and but no, all kidding aside, they were most unbelievable, you know, Ryan himself. I mean, unbelievable. I mean, unbelievable, man. You know, great pilot, great person, great dad. You know, great, brother. I mean, just, I mean, it’s what, it’s what those guys became, they are, they’re great people.
Ryan Fleming 46:03
I’m paying them a lot of money to say all these things. But the cool part about this podcast, I just got back from a Super Bowl trip where we go it’s like been a 15 year tradition where we all the guys that flew within the Air Force, go watch the Super Bowl together. And one of the guys was is after 35 years serving our country. He’s retiring. So Kerry, being smarter than me made me she made sure I had to go to that. So I did. But then I came back and I was all excited about doing this podcast with coach and I normally have a couple of football helmets behind me to include you know, the one I wore back then and played into blue gray All Star game while I show up this morning, when I get back, back home, and we’re just transitioning to move to the lake house and all my helmets are gone. So my backdrops not what I expected
Walter Storholt 46:48
today. Yeah, he’s still got a football back there. Right. Yeah, I
Larry Fedora 46:51
still got it looks good. And I will say this about those guys. Walter. You know, those guys, if you told those guys to run through the wall? They didn’t question. You know, just they just did it. You know, and I mean, they were they were special. I mean, they were special. And
Walter Storholt 47:10
Coach, isn’t it? Oh, it
Larry Fedora 47:12
is great. You know, they weren’t always they weren’t always the best athletes that I’ve coached in my career. But those two years, and I was only there for two years, those two years, were probably two of the most special that I have, in my 37 years of coaching.
Ryan Fleming 47:27
I want I wanted to ask you about your relationship with Red Bull. That’s one of the ones I wanted to talk about. Because I know for a while there, he had an intimate relationship with Red Bull I’m
Larry Fedora 47:36
I was pretty high energy guy and always have been. And it just when I went to the, I guess it was really when I got to Oklahoma State is really when the flame kind of took off, because they had a guy there in town who kind of sponsored me, and so started providing it. And so I started doing quite a bit of Red Bull. And then I went to Southern Miss, and he talked to the distributor there. And so the distributor there kind of took care of me and and then when I went to North Carolina, that distributor, you know, took care of me there and cases and pallets of Red Bull. And you know, at the end, when it was out of hand, my my routine was always about my five cups of coffee in the morning, you know, and then it was 10 o’clock in the morning. That’s when I stopped drinking coffee and got on the Red Bull. And I would I was averaging about, you know, about eight to 10 Red Bulls a day before practice. And practice started at around 230. You know, so it was you know, and so then I think it was about 2016 I think it was 16 when I decided I better stop. And so I just cold turkey stopped, you know, and I was worried that it was that I was addicted, but it was it was just a habit, it was just having something in my hand and it was just kind of fit my personality.
Ryan Fleming 49:02
Well, that’s just your personality, too. You can just turn stuff off and turn it off like that because of your discipline. And I’ve been around it enough to know that and one of his other sayings was you’re either the hammer the nail, you know, there’s nothing in between. You know which one are you? I know you got some more questions. Walter. Please go.
Walter Storholt 49:19
Yeah, my last one coaches just on by the way, I’ve heard you mention hammer and nail that reference many times during your podcast, Ryan. So it’s fun to know, know where that came from. But Coach, my last question for you. Do you feel like you got out of college football at the right time? Did retirement come at a good time for you with just how much the landscape has now changed? Is that one piece of adversity? You’re glad that you don’t have to necessarily navigate through those new waters? Or is that like, if you were entering into the college profession today? Would that be an exciting new challenge to try and figure out the whole new recruiting world and everything else that’s going on?
Larry Fedora 49:53
Yeah, that’s that’s a great question. Walter. I know. You know, I know I made the right decision. The right time, it was the right time for me. And, you know, is I’ve watched this, this new landscape, the NFL and the transfer portal and, and, you know, and I still talk to coaches all the time friends all over the country and how miserable they are trying to navigate this new thing, you know, because there, there are no rules basically, to it. It’s just, it’s wild right now. And no one really knows how to do it, how to, how to contain it, how to how to make it what I think what they originally wanted it to actually be for, you know, and so it’s, uh, I’m glad I’m not dealing with it. You know, it’s not really something that I necessarily believe in the way it is right now. I do believe that, that, that the players being compensated in some way, I think that’s I think they needed that I really do. But I think it’s not what it was intended for right now. Because it’s totally out of hand. And so I’m glad that I don’t have to deal with that. I really don’t. I really feel bad for the coaches that are dealing with it right now. And I feel for young coaches that are getting into it. I don’t think they’re gonna be getting into the profession for the same reason that I got into a profession. You know, and I don’t know that I could still do the things that I would would want to do in college football coaching. Today that, like I used to do, I don’t know that I could drive people the same way I used to drive them. So, you know, so it’s really good for me to be out
Walter Storholt 51:31
money changes other motivations, right? That’s right. Right. Different
Larry Fedora 51:35
ways to motivate people now. See
Ryan Fleming 51:37
that? That’s a part that really scares me is because I’m not convinced that the same life lessons are being learned with loyalty commitment, you know, if you’re not good enough, working harder to get on the field at that one place, versus just transferring somewhere else. The other thing that scares me is, I mean, what’s the percentage of athletes that even go into the NFL 2%? Less than two? Yes, less than 2%. And then what the average life expectancy is two years, maybe it’s
Larry Fedora 52:04
a little bit a little a little over three, actually.
Ryan Fleming 52:07
Okay, so if we take those percentages, and with everybody moving around, a lot of these players aren’t getting their college degree. And, you know, three to four years later that they’re out of a job. And if you don’t have a college degree, now, what’s next, because there’s a lot of life living after that. And one of the things that just really scares me is, I kind of wish it was like, Hey, you stay and get your degree, and then we’ll write you a fat check. Because then, you know, you can still play football, but but at least you’re set for life now. And if we truly cared about the kids, I think that it needed to be a formula a little bit more like that. Because right now, I think it’s going down a scary path. And as coaches, you mentioned, the unintended consequences.
Larry Fedora 52:46
Yeah, I don’t think I don’t I mean, I would be surprised that this is what they intended. You know, I mean, I really would i It’s, it is scary. I mean, you know, I mean, each generation, you know, we want things better for the next generation. And so we work really hard to make things easier for him. I don’t know if that’s necessarily the right way to do things. I think, you know, we get softer and softer every generation that goes by because we’re dealing with less hardships. You know, I think if you look back, I mean, you already acknowledged the broken leg that you had, I mean, you look at all those hardships and all the adversity that you overcome to get to where you are in life. It’s what makes you who you are, it’s what’s inside of you. And that’s the man that you become because of the hardships you had, not because things were easy for you. You know, and so, you know, I don’t know that, that giving these young men some money is a bad thing. I just think that there has to be some limits on it there. It’s out of hand right now. I mean, because you think about it, these young men now. Or, I mean, think about the financial part of it, they’re learning how to manage money. Now, we’re where a lot of young people never have that opportunity. So that that they’re they’re having they’re getting the opportunity to at least learn that whether they do or not, I mean, hey, that’s up to them, but they at least have that opportunity. And so there could there could be some really good things that come out of this. You know, we just don’t know. I’m
Ryan Fleming 54:18
glad coach brought that all together that we finally brought up investing or money on the show. But But it goes to say we need to start teaching personal finance in schools as well, because it’s probably one of the most important things you deal with in life and we don’t do a good job of teaching anyone how to do those things. Yeah,
Larry Fedora 54:36
I think you’ll you’ll find that you’ve got personnel on every staff now that are, you know, player development, and probably every division one coach out there is at least trying to put things in place for young man. You know, I know we had a plan that these guys had to learn as freshmen they had learned sophomores, they had to learn as juniors that learn as senior as seniors in it. It was basically it had nothing to do with, with education other than, you know, okay, how do you get a credit card? You know, and showing them that process? And what is a credit card? And what does it mean? And how do you handle it? And, you know, just different life lessons, that I think that you’ll be surprised a lot of football coaches are actually trying to help in that area also, because they know, they know they need it.
Ryan Fleming 55:27
Well, that’s, that’s fantastic. I love that. Coach, you know, I don’t want to take up too much more of your time. But I very much appreciate you letting us ask all these questions. Have a little bit of fun with you as well. Walters
Larry Fedora 55:40
got his work. He’s got his work cut out trying to put a show together off of this, I assure you, well, we’ve
Walter Storholt 55:48
got aI these days, we can make you say anything.
Ryan Fleming 55:52
Yeah, he normally doesn’t use my face on these podcasts either. It’s somebody totally different. But which is a good thing. Since I have that, you know, radio face.
Larry Fedora 56:00
Yeah, no doubt you do.
Ryan Fleming 56:04
So but Coach, is there anything that you’d want to leave, leave us with advice, you know, for people that are listening listeners. And one other thing I did want to say I look forward to seeing you at the next South Carolina coaches for charity event because I you know, we’re lucky enough to be around coaches and help coach Fisher to Barry with this charity and your board members as well. So I look forward to hopefully seeing you there at the next event. And anything that you want to leave for everybody.
Larry Fedora 56:31
Yeah, I hope I can be and listen, I know. You know, we mentioned some of the things that are going wrong with college football or sports right now, you know, and but let me tell you what they’re still the positives far outweigh the negatives, the experiences that young men, young women that are involved in athletics, the things that they learn, you know, the overcoming adversity, teamwork, discipline, you know, grit, all the things, those are all things that are going to carry them through their life, they’re going to be better people forget, they’re going to be able to overcome things in their life. Because life’s not going to be easy. You know, nobody owes you anything, you’re going to have to fight and work hard for anything that you get in this world. And so when you take that attitude about it, I mean, I’m so thankful for athletics, I really am. I mean, and I feel sorry for the young men and women who don’t get involved in athletics, because I don’t think there’s anything else out there that’s going to teach them those life lessons. And so, you know, even though there’s some negative things going on right now with with sports or college football, man, the the positives far outweigh the negatives. Absolutely
Ryan Fleming 57:43
agree. Coach, I appreciate you getting on with us. Like, you know, I know we’re jumping all over the place, but I enjoy having a conversation with you. And I know everybody will like to hear the things I’ve heard over and over again over the years as you’ve been a, you know, a great mentor to me and got me hopefully down the right path. I can’t wait to see what I’ll do when I grow up. But but but thanks for being that person in my life. And I know you’ve touched a lot of other of your former players as well. So thank you, and thanks for giving us this time.
Larry Fedora 58:12
Well, I appreciate it. Ryan that’s that’s why I got into the profession in the first place was to hopefully have a positive impact on young men’s lives. And it’s always great to hear what type of impact or what kind of impression a former player had and so I appreciate you saying that Walter is great to see you again. And good luck on not putting this thing together. You
Walter Storholt 58:34
got it no doubt about that. We’ll take good care of you and appreciate you taking the time to join us as well.
Ryan Fleming 58:39
All right, you guys take care. We’ll do a please tell Christy and the rest of the family I said hello. I will be right take care of.
58:51
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