SPEAKER_00 0:04

You're listening to the Hanging with Yay podcast, where we break down hot topics in athletic administration and lessons learned through leadership. Now, here are your hosts, Josh Matthews and Don Baker.

SPEAKER_04 0:17

Today we sit down with an unlikely pair from the great state of Kansas. Brandon Clark is a state championship-winning football coach, and Kevin Chase hails from a four-generation ranching family that has also been in the banking business for five decades. Their story of connection paired with purpose is sure to inspire you, and we think that there's a ton in this episode that can help take your programs to the next level. Let's settle in and get to know the coach and the cowboy.

SPEAKER_05 0:53

Brandon and Kevin, we're glad to have you joining Don and me for this episode of Hanging with the AD. Now, we've had coaches on here before, and we actually had an AD who had the same name as an old cowboy back in the day, but we've never had a coach and a cowboy at the same time. So thanks for taking time to join us today. Hey, thanks for having us on here.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

You're welcome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:14

All right. Now, for our listeners, Coach Brandon Clark is the head football coach at Derby High School in Derby, Kansas, where he's led the Panthers to six state championships there at Derby. And Kevin Chase there with him is a fourth generation rancher who's been in the baking business for several decades now. But we're going to stop right there. We could talk about their history for a little bit, but we'll stop right there and let them tell us a little bit about who they are and their journey in athletics. So, Brandon and Kevin, uh, as we said before, we like to start the show with the back of the baseball card bio. So take a minute, tell us what the back of Brandon Clark and Kevin Chase's baseball cards might look like. Kevin, we'll start with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Well, uh, the back of my card would tell you I was uh born and raised in uh South Central Kansas on a fourth generation ranch. Uh I was a three-sport athlete in high school, uh going to college. I gave up athletics and uh went to Kansas State University, got my degree there, and upon graduation, uh got my first job, and it was in banking. And my first job actually led to a banking career that spanned uh over three decades.

SPEAKER_05 2:28

Brandon, what about you? What would your baseball card look like?

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Oh, I grew up in a small town in Kansas, Valley Center, Kansas. Uh played, played as many sports as I could, uh, loved sports. I knew I was going to be a teacher. I knew I wanted to be a coach. Had a had a high school football coach, uh Mike Smith, that that coached me that that was one of my heroes that that inspired me to be the best that I can be. Um ended up going to K State also, Kansas State, uh played for Bill Snyder, uh, learned a lot about football, learned a lot about accountability and hard work, and uh um went there, played there, bounced around a little bit to with some camps after after college, and then uh came directly to Derby. Um at the time, Derby had a uh a coach named Tom Young that's a legend in Kansas, and uh um he really built Derby up to something I wanted to coach underneath him. Ended up uh coaching middle school that year because somebody didn't retire at the high school level. And at the time I wasn't too happy to to coach middle school, you know, coming out of college, but uh ended up being one of the best, best things I've ever done for being a head coach. And then I was an assistant uh at the high school. Tom Young ended up retiring. Uh we got a new coach, I was an assistant for him, he left for college. Uh, we got another new coach, uh was an assistant for him, really didn't have a great year. We were 0-9 that year. He left and then I became the head coach. So I've been been coaching here at Derby. Uh Derby's a school of about uh 2,100 kids. Uh it's uh it's a pretty big high school in Kansas and uh been doing this uh as a head coach for about 16 years.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

All right. Now let's uh let's kick off with this. Then this is an obvious question, okay? Big softball here that I think a lot of our listeners want some insight into. Uh and that's how did the two of you find each other? How do two of the two of you connect and begin what I quote unquote this culture movement that has resulted in such success? What brought a coach and a cowboy together?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Coach, let me let me take let me take this one. Um I had uh moved to Derby, Kansas in 1986 and was enjoying uh a banking career. I loved our bank and and the people that worked at our at our bank. Uh during this time, my mother, who is a big sports fan, continually called and talked to me about this Brandon Clark who's playing at Kansas State and how good he is, and how I need to get up to Manhattan, Kansas and see him play. Well, I'm raising young kids, they're in junior football. I can't make the Saturday games. Well, fast forward a few years, and I go to a Derby Chamber of Commerce new teacher luncheon, and there is Brandon Clark.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

Look at there.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

And I think maybe it was meant to be. I went up and said, Brandon, we need to get to know each other. My mother tells me all sorts of things, good things about you. So that's that's how we met. It was actually 19 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

And a couple years ago, Kevin has always been uh an inspiration to me, always before game days and stuff like that. He'd always send me stuff just uh to inspire me, talk about culture. We we real quickly became good friends. But about five or six years ago, we had our our culture coach, who was a pastor at the time, had to move churches. They he got, I don't know, he had to go up to Topekee, Kansas. So so we didn't have a culture coach. And uh I asked Kevin um if he wanted to be our team culture coach, and uh he became uh it took him a while to say yes, but uh he became uh our culture coach for our football team, talks to the kids. He's plays just as big a part uh to our football team as as any other coach does. But uh um he's he's done a great job, and we've we've just the last five years have have been amazing.

SPEAKER_05 6:15

Yeah, that's great. We want to get into that culture coach stuff in a few minutes, I think. But uh, you know, there may be some people that hit pause right now and think, okay, where are these guys? Where really is Derby? What is uh what do they do together? And uh, you know, the website, CoachCowboy.com, they may be looking that up. So when they go to CoachCowboy.com and they look up Brandon and Kevin, they're gonna see this program called the One Degree Compass Program. And they may, you know, y'all talk about um teaching folks about that and what it does for you guys. What will the one degree compass program do for teams? How do leaders implement it? Uh, you know, based on the intro on your website, an organization must know their pulse before they know their how. So explain how that drives that one degree compass program that you guys use in your program.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

You want me to do that? Yep. Josh, can I first maybe tell you where uh where and how the one degree compass originated, and then I'll get it how it's implemented.

SPEAKER_05 7:11

Yeah, we would love that. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

About five years ago, Coach Clark, he uh he was taking his uh football team down to Tulsa, Oklahoma to a pad camp. Uh, he had traditionally done that for a number of years in a row, and it gives the kids uh, you know, a good time to thud it up a little bit during the off season. And we went down there and we were having a good experience as usual and ran into a situation with another team where there was a skirmish on the field. There was a little scrimmage, there was a skirmish on the field. Later that evening, it moved into the dorm dormitory, and uh this other team had snuck down to the derby floor of the dorm and went around knocking on doors. And one of our kids opened the door, and and he got bull rushed by a number of number of players and got beat up pretty bad. And it was an ugly situation. And that next morning, this other team and Derby had been asked to leave camp. Parents were upset, the players were a little confused, coaches were confused and upset. And I told Brandon that that morning, and and Josh and Don realized this is my first summer as the culture coach. I'm I'm doing a great job.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

You're you're you're killing it right now. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

I'm really I'm really setting the world on fire. And I told Brandon, I said, Brandon, I feel like I owe you something. There's something that we could do with our program to take it to another level. Later that summer, Brandon and I spent a couple of days fishing together, and we did more football work and football discussion than actual fishing. And before we got home, Brandon and I and another buddy of ours had developed this one degree compass idea. And the idea was centered on uh having a patch on the back of our jersey that the boys played behind. They could play behind the patch, and the patch represented what they do and what they don't, don't do. And in the matter of just a couple of weeks, Brandon had all the approvals from uh the Kansas Athletic Association, the parent group. We had a logo designed. And in two to three weeks, when the players took the field that Friday night, they had the patch on the back. The one-degree compass is all about destination and discipline. You set a destination, you set something that you aspire for, something you aspire to become. And then it's all about setting your compass and staying on course, having the discipline to stay on course and not getting off course more than one degree. And that that discipline piece is foundation by four elements that's accountability, character, energy, and service. And we can get into those more here if you'd like.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Yeah, and Kevin, before before this was ever developed, um, we have a faith in leadership retreat for our seniors um out at Kevin's Ranch every summer uh to kick off the summer, to kick off their senior season. And uh uh Kevin has always talked to the kids about having a life uh life compass, you know, always knowing where you want to go and always staying on on path to get there. So we we developed the one degree compass kind of off that life compass that he talked about.

SPEAKER_05 10:29

Yeah, that's great. I wanted to back up to one thing, Kevin. You said you said the coaches were confused. Sounded like maybe Derby wasn't at fault, but we know when two teams get into a skirmish, there's two sides of the story, right? And it there's probably everybody's at fault a little bit. And it sounded like you you said coaches were confused, but both teams were asked to leave. And what struck me is how you directed, and and I don't know what the conversation was then, but how you kind of directed them and maybe y'all did it together of we're gonna take responsibility and take action to so that didn't happen again instead of being the victim. And it sounds like something good came out of a bad situation. It sounds like y'all were able to move forward very, very quickly because you didn't act like the victim.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

One degree compass is all about being proactive and not reactive. Brandon, Brandon, for years, he had a good culture, he's had a good culture with his football team, but it seemed like a lot of things that were teaching moments were always a reaction to something that had happened. And we wanted to put in place a proactive culture, almost a doctrine, where we're taking care of problems before they happen. And the reason uh Josh, I said that maybe the coaches were a little confused, and I was confused. I I did not know why we were kicked out. Right. Um we didn't start the the skirmish on the field, but but here's here's the deal. Um, were our kids maybe chattering a little bit, getting a little chippy, were they running their mouth?

SPEAKER_05 12:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Some of them, some of them were, I'm, I'm sure. We don't do that with the one degree compass. That that's something we don't do. And we did it that day. And while we didn't start it, we we could have been better. So uh that's that's what I why I was saying. We were a little confused, maybe why we why we were kicked out, but you know, we weren't just totally innocent that day.

SPEAKER_05 12:27

No, absolutely get it. I mean, I I think we all try to make excuses sometimes for our actions and how we want to interpret rules or whatever it is, when we step back and say, you know what, that was actually a good decision, but how can we play with play within that decision and get better? And and like you said, we we're gonna start getting out in front of it. We're not just gonna get better, we're we're gonna set the standard, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:50

Right. Definitely. We always uh, I mean, that that was the whole reason about this uh one degree compass. Uh, we we start the season off with talking to the kids about what does it look like to be accountable for derby football. And the kids all get together, we break them out in groups, and uh they kind of write stuff down, then pick their two favorite, we write them all down, and um, we end up usually having about 10, maybe eight to ten things uh that we wrote down on the board. This is always our first Thursday night meeting that that Kevin's at. And uh and we all vote on it. And uh like I said, there's about eight to ten things that they write down, and pretty much the the kids make their own rules. Uh they they kind of set the standard for that season. So those eight to ten things that they all voted on, 100% people voted on, uh kind of leads our team with with those. So we pretty much said you guys just set the rules. And the cool thing about it is it's never what we can't do, it's always something positive. You know, it's uh it's it's always what we should do. And uh it at least for easy conversations when we get outside the lines, when a kid screws up or something like that, or you know, we could just bring it right up in front of the team. Hey, you voted on this, you know, either you got to get in or get out.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Let me kind of lean in on something you just said there. So your website states that if you talk about things that matter, then things get real, right? You can have those those heavy conversations, and we agree with that 100%. But what uh we've seen, and y'all probably probably have seen this with coaches and ADs, uh but more often than not, they have a difficult time uh implementing things like that because they see it as taking away, they get caught up in the X's and O's. We've had this conversation on here before about how difficult it is for coaches to take time away in order to add value. This idea of taking time away from the X's and O's, the day-to-day, to talk about those things that matter, to head things off of the past before you get there and benefit from it. So uh when do you take that time to talk about those things that you know when they you you're talking about you do that in the preseason? Are there times throughout the year where you take time away from the normal day-to-day to hone down on these things?

SPEAKER_03 15:02

Yeah, every every Thursday night um before games on Fridays, uh we spend about an hour with the team and we don't talk football. Um, Kevin gets up there, I kind of go over the stuff that that's gonna happen uh the next day. Say, say we have an away game or something like that, kind of given times, and they can take pictures on their phone of of the schedule and everything. And then uh uh Kevin gets up there and just gives us uh an hour-long keynote that that is just amazing. And it's it ties into football, but it's more about life. Um, and the kids just they they get lesson after lesson. I get lesson after lesson from when Kevin talks to us, and that's kind of what we've taken to um just not our football team, but other people are wanting to hear about that. Uh, one one thing I think we've uh maybe it's just dumb luck. Like I said earlier, I was a middle school coach my first year when I came to Derby, even though I didn't want to be a middle school coach, I wanted to be a high school coach. Um, I found out that there was a lot of stuff our middle school uh program could be doing to benefit the high school program, to benefit those kids when they get up to the high school. And then my uh then I looked at our junior football programs. You know, that starts at the first grade. And one thing we we did a long time ago is we we integrated, I mean, we've got a first grade playbook, second grade playbook. I mean, we put on coaches clinics for all those uh junior football coaches, all the middle school football coaches. We get out there, we spend time with them all all summer long. And by doing that, by the time the kids get up to the high school level, it is really cut down on the time that we have to actually practice and we can actually spend other time doing stuff that that really matters. Instead of teaching the kids the playbook, they already know the playbook. I mean, there's there's gonna be some new stuff that we got to do. But by reaching those kids at such a young age, um just allows our program to really, really dive deep into culture and and really um our our goal every game is to put the most mature team on the football field, both uh physically, emotionally, spiritually, all of that. And uh um it allows us to spend time on all that instead of just going over X's and O's.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

Well, you know, I tell you, I want to thank you both uh for doing that. I know that I I had a high school football coach that he saw the value in taking time away to focus on those things that matter. And I know that I have benefited from it as I have gotten older. And I'm originally from Valdasta, Georgia, where in June and July it is, you know, it's 112. And when I was 16, I didn't feel like just sitting there on the field for an hour learning about life, right? But when I went to college and then when I when I got engaged and when I got married, and then when I had kids, and now my job, like there's I have a picture of him on the wall, you know, and and and and he has uh played a pivotal role in my life. And I never had the opportunity to go back and say thank you. He he passed away the year after I graduated. He was sitting in the cafeteria with my father, who was also a coach, he pushed away from the table, said I'll tell y'all this afternoon. He dropped dead before you know he was dead before he hit the floor right in the middle of the cafeteria. And to to be able to do what you're doing, uh just again, uh thank you, uh, because you're you're gonna make uh differences in the entirety life story of people that you're never gonna know. You're not gonna know that. Uh, but that's um, you know, that's that that's touching to me just because I can I've lived that. And so uh that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah Don, let me add something to that if I can. We had one Thursday night just this last season where we talked about being a difference maker, and that's that's nothing new. A lot of coaches will will talk about you know being a difference maker in your sport or in life, but uh we took it a step further and we had all the kids that night. We had we have over a hundred football players, and we had we passed out uh note cards and we asked them to think about a teacher that they have had in the past that was a difference maker for them that helped them become the person they are today. They all wrote note cards, they all put the school they teach at, and then Brandon delivered the hand delivered those note cards the next day. And you talk about the buzz that went through this school district because every school had teachers that have touched this football program. It was it was tremendous. And I also wanted to add, uh, there were some things that Brandon uh does with this program in the offseason, and they involve retreats. We have a really special retreat that we do for, we call it the father-son retreat. We have mothers that show up as well, but these are these are freshmen that are uh starting their sophomore year. So it's the summer before their sophomore year, and we talk to the parents and to the player, players about what it means to be a Derby Panther at the varsity level. We get we get father, son, mother, son on the same page with their expectations, what they want their child to realize when it's all said and done from this football program. That that retreat has been extremely powerful. Uh, Brandon mentioned the the leadership and faith retreat we do for the seniors. Uh, that's been tremendous. And then Brandon has, we've we've called it Panthers on the Prairie for years. And this is when we get the entire football program together. We're talking about coaches and their families, all the players, all their families. We'll have 350, 400 people show up to this barbecue cookout, and it is nothing but connecting, getting to know each other on more of a personal level, emotional level, and pulling the program together. So those are some things that really have a cultural impact and they don't get in the way of the X's and O's.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

To piggyback off Kevin, real quick, um, that father-son retreat that we do, um, Kevin, we'll we'll break up into a father group and kid groups, and we'll kind of go through some of the same stuff, but directed towards the fathers and the kids and a lot of breakout sessions. And and one thing Kevin does with the fathers is say, uh, if if you could have your dreams come true, what do you want your son to experience by a senior year? And it's always something athletically, you know, I want him to be all state, I want him to be recruited in college, you know, all that stuff. Then his next question he writes down has the father's answer is uh, what if none of those expectations that you have of your son comes true? Wow, great question. What kind of experience do you want your son to have? Okay, now it starts making them think, all right, we just want him to grow as a person, grow as a man, and and and all that. And then he asks the kids the same thing. What's your goals? You know, and then what if you don't reach those goals? What kind of experience do you want to have on this football team? And then uh we send the fathers and sons out and uh we have them go talk about those, and and then they set goals for for high school and life. And um, I I always wished uh, you know, I had a great relationship with my father, but I wish somebody forced me to have that conversation with my father to actually uh talk about that and then. We have them write each other a letter. And uh they they write each other a letter, tell them, you know, what they want to accomplish, what they want to do the next three years of their life. And then we always have a candlelight uh on one of our last Thursday meetings where the kids get up. I just light a candle in the locker room and we let them talk uh to the team about what this football team means to them, and it gets really emotional. But we always invite those fathers that were at that that retreat, their their freshman year, that they wrote the letter. Kevin puts those letters in a his safe deposit box at his bank and uh um he he gets them out and meet meets them up in the press box and we turn on the lights and uh we have the father-son exchange those letters after that candlelight ceremony and becomes a very emotional, very, very touching time. Uh it's it's amazing to see the connection that that goes through there.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

Yeah, that's interesting. Writing letters with paper and pens and that, you know, who knew who knew? That's a novel idea, right? These days.

SPEAKER_05 22:57

Yeah. So my next question was going to be for you, uh, Brandon, about the success you've had as a football coach. We mentioned in the opening you won six state championships there in Kansas. And I was wondering, have you always been successful, or was there a certain point in time when things changed for you? I was thinking more about this one degree compass program. You kind of alluded to that one specific incident there coming out of camp. But when I hear you talking about Thursday night uh culture meetings, writing note cards, having a specific person with kind of a curriculum, it sounds like Kevin, you have it. It sounds like you constantly have things going on with your retreats and things like that. So I guess I I really would like for you just to elaborate on the uh evolvement of all these things that you do, uh, the the whys behind your success, I guess, is what I wanted to kind of ask. Uh, because I'm really interested in these retreats. You know, it sounds like it looks like you probably got stuff going on every week of the summer away from your family and that kind of stuff. How do you make it all work?

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Well, for one, I I've got an unbelievable family. Uh, they love football. I got two boys that play football. My daughter probably loves football more than more than they do. My wife, I mean, uh, there was one time I was walking out at halftime when we were losing it with state semifinals, and I hear this person yelling at me, telling me to get my act together, and it was my wife yelling at me. So uh, I mean, she loves pullback too. So uh um live that. But I can take you sometimes we need that, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Um, I I can take you to the moment that that everything changed for me. But before I do that, also uh, like I said, I was dumb enough 16 years ago to start a first grade through 12th grade program. But for some reason, uh Kevin's on it, uh, and a couple other guys. I was dumb enough to just dumb luck, I guess, uh, to start a football board. Um, so I had a bunch of guys kind of we never talked about X's and O's or anything, but we'd always spend one night together uh after the season, and we talk about what worked, what didn't work, and uh a lot of times it's all about adding, adding, adding, but but we also talk about what what doesn't serve a purpose and that we're just doing because we're we're doing it. So uh can I ask you on that?

SPEAKER_05 25:17

I'm sorry to jump in. Do you have a booster club per se? So this football board is different than your booster.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

This is my buddies. This is okay, gotcha. All right, we spend the night, uh, just the whole night talking football on how to basically it's all culture stuff.

SPEAKER_05 25:33

So are these guys sitting in the stands watching you coach every game, or they aren't me? Yeah, okay, okay, all right, good. Another great idea. I'm just curious what it looks like.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

This this is a secret advisory board. Got it. No one in the community even knew it existed.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

And we've done it for we've done it for 16 years. So um, just just like I said, it was kind of dumb luck uh to to do all this, but uh that's brilliant. Yeah, absolutely. Go go back to my passion with culture. I told you I wanted to uh really learn from this guy named Tom Young, and and he was just a tremendous coach, a legend here in uh in in the state of Kansas. And uh when I got the job, all I could hear about, I took over an 09 football team, and I got the job, all I could hear about was you're no Tom Young. And uh, so I wanted to become become Tom Young. And for me to look myself in the mirror, I had to I had to to do what Tom Young did, and I was win a state championship at Derby. So my whole beginning of my career was all it was focused on was winning the state championship. Uh, made it to uh state semifinals um after after year two, probably about four or five times. Uh could never make it to the state. And every every year it ended, I looked myself in the mirror and I, you know, I went to the hospital twice with heart conditions, just stressing out all the time. But I was just driven to win that state title. And um finally in 2013, uh, we got out of the state semifinals and made it to the state championship. And uh um played in the state championship, it was like everything I imagined. I mean, the whole town of Derby, we had you know 15,000 people there. I mean, it was just tremendous. It was a close game, it was a hard fought game, super nervous going into the game, but we ended up winning. And I remember that moment when I looked up in the stands and everybody was going nuts, you know, I was hugging the kids. We, you know, did the whole Gatorade bat thing. Um, it was just an unbelievable moment. Um, everything that I dreamed of. And now I can look myself in the mirror and say I'm a success. But then I remember I was a uh me and my wife and my kids, and my parents and her parents uh were the last ones to walk off that field. Um, it it was a it was a long post-game, um, after the game celebration, and we were the last ones to walk off the field. And I just looked at the empty stadium and uh I stopped as I walked off and I turned to my wife and I said, Is this it? I've I've been chasing this for eight years. This is the moment I've I've put everything to to get here, and it was probably the most empty feeling I ever felt in my life. I felt like I had wasted the last eight years of my life to get that state title, just to look myself in the mirror and say, You're a successful football coach. And at that moment in my life, I decided that I was gonna make memories, enjoy moments, enjoy, enjoy life, uh, um, enjoy the kids, really spend a lot of time on culture. And uh um I've done that and uh man, it's it's been a fun ride ever since.

SPEAKER_05 28:26

Wow, yeah. I think for the hard-driven coach, uh, they hear that and they say, Well, you you drove yourself and you deserve that first one, right? But then they hear, I'm gonna enjoy enjoy moments, I'm gonna take time for this. Um and it sounds like you soften up, right? You you lower just your intensity, but you won five more. So, so how does that work?

SPEAKER_03 28:47

Uh I'll tell you, a lot of people, uh, a lot of sports programs add culture to their program to soften it up because they're that that hard driving coach that just we don't spend much time. We never practice over an hour and 40 minutes. Um, we we we watch film and we do all that stuff, but uh we we don't have culture inside of our program to soften up our program. We tell our kids our our culture is tough. I mean, it's it's it's not some soft word. Um our our culture is uh when we go snap the whistle, we are gonna unleash hell and we we we are gonna knock some heads and be the hardest hitting team on on the football field. But our culture off the field is we're gonna serve others, we're gonna make sure everybody else is uh um on the same page and we're together and we're unified and uh we're helping this community out. So uh uh culture is not soft in our program.

SPEAKER_04 29:36

That is so good. Now, speaking of success, we see a lot of programs win and win big sometimes. So, you know, maybe they do win state titles, but often a lot of these programs they can't sustain their winning ways or maybe build upon a certain level of success. Every single year we make the playoffs. Great. But uh what else? What do we need to get to that higher level on a more consistent basis? Uh why do you think this happens and then you know what's missing? And then how would you advise the leaders of these organizations as they look to maintain or maybe build on their success?

SPEAKER_03 30:12

Yeah, we've uh Kevin Kevin has a story um that he told the football team, and it was it was uh it was a couple years ago, and it was the first meeting after we did the accountability, and he called it fill not spill. Uh Kevin, go ahead and I'll I'll let you tell a story. You're you're a better storyteller than that.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

I don't know about that, but I uh I had a uh professor at my graduate banking school. Uh he was a law professor, and uh I wrote a long paper that was required, turned it in, and I got it back uh a month later or so, and he'd written all over it and he said, Hey, Kevin, you've got a few holes in your legal pail. And I'd always remembered that phrase, a few holes in my legal pail. And so I was talking to Brandon, I said, Brandon, we go through life and we have a value bucket, you have a success bucket, whatever you want to call it, an education bucket, and you fill it. And it's important to fill that bucket as you go through life. And a lot of people think, well, the only way to the only way to fill this bucket is is from the top. And while that's true, there's several ways to spill out of that bucket. One's to get holes in your pail. And so we talked to the team about filling and not spilling. We had ended one season with a championship, we started the next season, and we talked about and challenged the team. Do we have to start way back down here and refill the bucket? Or can we not start here and let's go to another level? And so we talked to them about always filling and never spilling out of their value bucket.

SPEAKER_05 31:50

Yeah, changing the starting blocks, uh, changing the starting line. That's that's a great thought there. I think I think you're right. I think the average coach goes back to the beginning, back to the bottom, as you pointed out there. Man, if you can change the starting line, the finish line becomes a lot easier, right? Thank you. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

I will also add to that that every year we get to play several more games than a lot of programs get to play. And so we're getting more reps, we're playing more kids. Uh, we're preparing really to some degree for the next season. And then one other thing that's really critical and important to Brandon's program is the people that he has hired on that surround him, and that's his assistant coaches. They are tremendous people. They're great at what they do, they've totally bought into the program, and they themselves are tremendous leaders for these kids.

SPEAKER_05 32:46

Nice. Yeah, I think to Don's original question there is the the folks who uh achieve success that they've never had getting in the playoffs a first time or whatever that is, they may waste that those valuable reps. And it they could have used those valuable reps that extra time to get them in next year and and then build upon it again. So, yeah, that's value the reps and then hire great people, man. Those are those are two great ones too. But what a what a story, feel not spills. Hey, uh, let's talk about purpose. Y'all talked about purpose a little bit already. Why is it important for leaders to know their purpose? Uh, what steps can one take to drilling down to finding his or her purpose? And, you know, once you do find your purpose, what do you do with it? What do y'all do knowing your purpose now?

SPEAKER_03 33:34

Well, I'll let Kevin speak on this, but I'll I'll kind of set him up. Uh uh one thing we do, our our purpose, our mission is what we call our pulse, um, the pulse of the program of our football program. A couple of years ago, we developed our pulse, we developed our vision, we developed our core values, and that allows us to be able to talk to the team and let them understand what is foundational, what what are the values that that are core to our program uh that though the the kids have to live by. And we talk about those all the time. But one thing we do is in order to live out those core values, to live out our our pulse and our vision, our kids have to know each other. We have to be unified through culture and unified through their personals, personal culture, what Kevin Kevin calls it. So uh, so we take them through a bunch of series of events before we even start talking about the organizational culture, about how to to unify them and let them tell their story and let them them get out there and and know the person that they're they're sent next to.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

I think um, Josh, for me to answer your question, a person has to reflect back in their life and kind of think about moments that they have had. And that will lead you to probably uh for the most people to where you're at today and what your purpose really is. I know in my heart my purpose is to serve and care for other people, and I've done that my whole life through my banking career. I didn't, I wouldn't go to you, Josh, and sell you a bank product. I'd go to you and tell you I want to serve you and take care of you. And we would become friends, and over time you would learn to trust me. That if I would look back at at my lifespan through Polaroid Pictures, you're not old enough to know what a Polaroid is. I do.

SPEAKER_05 35:29

Yes, I do. Oh, yeah. We might be on the bottom end of that, but we are.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

If I'd go back and look at my life as a kid in Polaroid pictures, you could say, well, why are you hanging on to your brother like that? Well, I didn't want him to fall off the mountain. I mean, I'm always caring for somebody else, always serving. And that's what I ended up doing through my banking career was caring and serving for others. If you want people to follow you in that regard, you've got to live it and you've got to realize that people have to trust you at some level before they will follow you. If you don't understand people have to trust you before they'll follow you, you're going to fall short of your leadership, leadership goals, I think. That's kind of where I land on your why, your purpose, your pull. We like to call it the pulse, you know, the heartbeat of the team. Uh that's everything.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

Yeah, we call it personal culture, and we let our kids figure out what their why, their purpose, what their pulse is. And we allow the allow the kids to to tell the whole team what what their purpose is. And that just unifies the team so much.

SPEAKER_05 36:36

Hey, Brandon, can I ask real quick? You said y'all talk about your mission and vision, your pulse, your core values all the time. Where does that fit in your practice schedule, your weight training? Like how are you talking about it to them during those times? Kind of go back to Don's earlier question uh about when do you fit this stuff in?

SPEAKER_03 36:54

We uh obviously every Thursday we talk about our culture, and and that that was meant to be, but there is probably not a beginning of practice or the end of practice or the end of the weight room. Uh, you know, I'm I'm involved. I see these kids every day, off season, you know, during the season, um, meetings, everything. I'm I'm pretty active and and with our kids, but uh we we bring it up all the time. But our our core values are foundational, and the kids know it, and they know they have to live those out because it's it's what lays the foundation of of our football team. And the kids know it. We speak about it at the beginning of every season, and uh, and then the the easiest thing is though, kind of like the accountability that that I talked about, where the kids make their own rules, if the kid really gets out of bounds and and is making bad decisions off the field and all that stuff, uh, it's really easy to go to our core values and sit them down and say this this is a core value of our football team. And you either you you got to get to it or or it's time for you to figure something else out. And uh um it just leads to easy conversations when when uh like what Kevin said, we're our our culture here is a proactive culture and not a reactive culture. So we're setting our culture, we're setting our standards, and it allows us for an easy conversation just right off the bat with the kid when they get out of out of line.

SPEAKER_04 38:12

And I think too, what what what I'm hearing you say is that and we've heard other people say this as well. If we're gonna make this thing, we have to be intentional about it. It it is it is a a thoughtful, intentional act day in and day out to make sure that we are staying, you know, on course to where we want to be and where we want to end up.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

Yep. And it's it's allowed some easy conversations with coaches, with our coaches about players on do we need to get rid of this kid or um, you know, and okay, what does he bring to the table? Well, he brings to the table he's a really good athlete. What does he not bring to the table? He's dividing the team, he's making bad decisions, you know, everything against our core values. And uh right now, our core values lead lead to most of those decisions. That that that kid would not be playing on our football team if he wasn't willing to change.

SPEAKER_04 38:59

Yeah. Now, I've seen where you all state, you ask a question how do you realize big dreams on a small budget? Find a marketing partner who makes your limited resources go far is your answer. There are more and more who are listening to this podcast who are working with smaller and smaller budgets than they have in the past. Okay. And that's that's a that's a cross-the-country kind of thing. And I whether that's an after effects of COVID where business is closed and they just don't have the ability to help, or really the ebb and flow of the economy. I think even prior to the pandemic, it was getting more and more difficult for schools to supplement their programs in a lot of ways. How can this may be a little bit of a softball question, but how can thinking out of the box and attaching themselves to someone in the marketing field help them fill those gaps? Why this angle?

SPEAKER_01 39:51

I think um thinking back to when Brandon first started and he put together his advisory board, he not only put together some advisors, but he he put together some people that had some financial backing as well. And I think it's all about looking at your budget, how you're spending your budget, first of all, and is there any waste? Are there some things we can do away with? We don't need to be doing that. That's that's a time waster. Uh that's wasting some financial resources, and then put together a list of here are some things we want to do, and maybe putting a value or a cost cost to those things and relying on your business relationships in the community. I think that's extremely important for any coach is to have a tremendous relationship with the business community. While there may be some businesses that don't do so well during a pandemic, there are others that do just fine. And Brandon and I, we're fortunate. We live in a community that's um we're always moving forward. They love football. Friday night is is big for Derby, Kansas. It's a big social event. And so Brandon has this backing and this following. And if he needed to raise some funds, he probably he probably could. But I think it's a matter of not being wasteful and being um fiscally responsible for how you handle the program and the funds that do come in.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

And uh just to add to that a little bit, and you you can Kevin could talk about his bank. Um, he really didn't when after he sold his bank and all that, uh, he we we talked about, you know, marketing and all that stuff. And uh they they really didn't go out and advertise, uh, they went out and served in the community. All all of his officers and all that were on different, you know, service projects and all that, and they were just being seen throughout the community. And that's kind of the way we are too with our football program. We don't go ask him for, you know, hey, we need this, we need that. You know, we go out and we serve, and then and then when it is time that we think there is something that we really do need, uh, it's pretty easy to find.

SPEAKER_05 41:57

Yeah, gain notoriety through service, man. That what what an idea there. That's awesome. Uh Brandon, I thought you were gonna say just know a good banker, but yeah, yeah, that helps, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:07

He doesn't he doesn't know a good banker.

SPEAKER_05 42:11

Not anymore, right? That's good. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

I take can't can. I will say that I'll plug, I'll plug Kansas. Kansas has a lot of great bankers in our state, and we've got great bankers right here in Derby. So banking banking is alive and well in our state.

SPEAKER_05 42:26

That's right. Yeah, so that's good. All right. Uh, one more question before we get to what we call the two-minute drill. Kevin, uh, or excuse me, Brandon, this question is more for you. You've already answered a little bit of it when you talked about the playbooks and all the different grade levels. Uh, another wonderful idea from a football perspective, but could go to basketball and other sports. You talked about uh Kevin talked about Panthers on the prairie. Uh, but I I just wanted to ask you about Panther Pride. You it seems like you have activities and training for first through 12th graders. You kind of mentioned that. How did you how did this develop and what does it do to sustain your culture?

SPEAKER_03 43:05

You know, though our our kids do such a good job, and and this is a big, you know, like like Kevin said, we have great assistant coaches that um they live out their purpose. They're they're not a different person. Uh we're very genuine and our it allows for our kids to be genuine. A lot of times kids uh want to put up a front to try to act like they're they're somebody else. But uh our kids have a our our high school football players do a good job. We we get out into uh get out into the schools, elementary schools. We've had reading programs every Friday. Our seniors go out and give out the Green Is Magic Award for the the class that has done something special in an elementary school. We got, I think we got about nine nine elementary schools here. So all the football players go out on game day, hand a helmet, take pictures with with the kids. And uh um, you know, we we don't like when we have a junior football camp, uh we ask our football players to stay out afterwards and um I mean, gosh, we'll have a hundred kids helping out, you know, three hundred kids in in junior football. And and eventually these these young kids have now grown up to be high schoolers. So they have seen it with the um the guys before them. And they know that those young kids are really gonna look up to them and and uh wanna be like them. And they they do just a great job of connecting with those little kids and what those little kids coming to Friday nights and watching them, and they're their heroes. And uh uh we have times on Thursdays that that we talk about who our uh past heroes were in on the football team, you know. And I've coached all these kids, so it's kind of fun to hear um about these kids. And uh um, I don't know, it's it's like Kevin said, Derby is a very special place. We have great city leadership, we've got great leadership in our uh school system, our principal is amazing, our AD. I don't know how you guys do it. It's probably one of the toughest jobs around. I mean, you've got uh I struggle juggling football, and you guys have I mean multiple uh athletics, you know, programs, activities. Uh I just don't know how you guys do it, but our ad is awesome. Um, we we just got a a good group, a good network here.

SPEAKER_05 45:09

That's good. We appreciate those kind of words, and I know your AD does too, but uh man, what a what a pleasure this was to uh learn about your relationship together, how you you guys have have uh become close and just uh built uh a great program there at Derby. Uh I tell you what, I love the thing about talking about heroes. I think we have or we think we have uh some coaches that listen to this program or this this podcast, and uh we think most of our listeners are probably athletic directors. If I'm an athletic director listening, I'm gonna send this episode to every one of my coaches. I I know Hope and I I get a little hesitant sometimes sharing my own podcast with our coaches or our own podcast, I should say, but uh they're gonna hear this one. They're gonna get this link and they may get a pop quiz on it because this is an episode every coach needs to hear. So thanks guys for uh sharing the secrets to uh the success there at Derby. And like I said, we're gonna do a little two-minute drill. This is where we get to know you a little bit better, have a little fun. Uh so Don's gonna start us off with this.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

All right, gentlemen, we're gonna hit you with some rapid fire questions. We want you to just tell us the first thing that comes to your mind, okay?

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_04 46:20

So this is for both of you. Brandon, you go first. What was the first job you ever had ever?

SPEAKER_01 46:26

Uh, landscaping.

SPEAKER_04 46:28

All right, Kevin.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

Well, mine'd be uh mine would be on the ranch on a horse.

SPEAKER_05 46:34

That's right. That's good. All right, Kevin. This question is for you. When was the last time you did something for the first time?

SPEAKER_01 46:42

That would be uh how long have we been on film here? That'd be about 45 minutes ago. I started a podcast.

SPEAKER_05 46:48

Oh, I love it. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 46:50

That's a that's a great answer. All right, uh, this is uh this is for both of you. Brandon, we'll let you go first. Um what was your favorite cartoon growing up?

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Oh, I'd probably say Flintstones.

SPEAKER_04 47:02

That's a solid answer, Kevin.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Oh, foghorn, leghorn.

SPEAKER_05 47:06

Oh, nice. All right, another question for both of you. Kevin, I'll let you go first. What was the first car you ever had?

SPEAKER_01 47:16

That would have been a Ford F-150. Old.

SPEAKER_03 47:22

All right, Brandon. Same thing old, but it was a Mazda B2000 little pickup.

SPEAKER_04 47:29

All right. So uh for both of you, Brandon, we'll let you go first. Who is the best athlete that you have ever seen in person?

SPEAKER_03 47:36

Golly. Not Kevin Chase, but uh wow. Gosh, I don't know. I played with so many um at at K-State. I would I would say probably the the guy I looked up to the most was the guy that played for the Chiefs, and he was just good at every sport. His name was John McGraw.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

All right, Kevin.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Mine would have been when I was a sophomore in high school. I was in Chicago, and I got to see Muhammad Ali.

SPEAKER_04 48:04

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

That was that was special.

SPEAKER_05 48:07

Yes, sir. All right, Brandon. Uh, one for you. What's your big biggest pet peeve?

SPEAKER_03 48:15

People that don't listen.

SPEAKER_04 48:18

That's good. Now, Kevin, this will we'll start with you on this one. Whose advice do you value the most?

SPEAKER_01 48:25

That would have been my father's. He passed away about uh four or five years ago, but he was very much my greatest mentor and had a lot of good advice for me.

SPEAKER_03 48:36

Brandon? Probably my wife.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

All right.

SPEAKER_05 48:46

All right, Kevin, uh start us off on this one. What's something you think everyone should try at least once?

SPEAKER_01 48:54

I think uh everyone should try this one time, and that is as soon as you wake up, be your best and make it your most perfect day ever. If you've never tried to do that, you're missing out. It's quite it's quite a challenge and quite an experience, but wake up and have your most perfect day ever.

SPEAKER_05 49:14

And we should end the podcast right there. That's a great answer. Brandon, Brandon, try to follow that one up.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

Golly. Yeah, uh, good luck. I don't know. One one thing, uh, one thing I try to just take it back off, Kevin, is uh think like a rookie. Um, you know, I I always tell when we go and talk to people is uh um the older you get, the the you know, you start taking things for granted, and uh um you take your job for granted, you take your family for granted, you take everything that matters most in your life, you take for granted. But if you can think like a rookie and treat every day like your rookie day, um like like the first day on your job, you're probably very excited, over prepared. If you can treat every day like that, then you're gonna live a successful life.

SPEAKER_04 49:59

That's great. Now, we've asked this question with most of our guests this season was if we if Josh and I were to get on a plane and we're coming out to Kansas, okay? So we're coming to see you, we're coming from Georgia, we're coming to Kansas, uh, and we're coming there for dinner. So what is the go-to dish? What is a Kansas staple that if we're coming to your place for dinner, what do we have?

SPEAKER_03 50:19

Oh, ribeye. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

I've well that's I can't beat that, so I'll go another direction. I I would favor appetizers uh that go great with red wine. Like stuffed mushrooms or brusquetta or um some ahi tuna. That may be a surprise to you from Kansas.

SPEAKER_05 50:44

That is. All right, all right. All right, let's finish with this question. Today, coach, and you've been hanging with the ADs, but if you could hang out with anyone, who would that be and why?

SPEAKER_03 50:56

I would a couple weeks ago, Kevin and I spent a day with Dave Gordon, and I think you guys have had him on a podcast here. And that day was so valuable, and I went learned so much. Um, he he opened our eyes to so many different things. And uh I think I would want to spend another day with him because that was one of the most valuable days I've ever ever lived. And it was just a great experience.

SPEAKER_04 51:19

Uh I'll second that. We spent two days with him via this podcast, uh, and we were definitely better for it. Uh, there's no doubt about that. Gentlemen, thank you for the time today. This was a a great conversation with a very alternative pair uh that I think uh is gonna help a ton of leaders. And for that, we are uh very grateful. So before we get out of here, uh, how can people contact you all maybe to get more information about your program?

SPEAKER_03 51:44

Go ahead. Yeah, uh you can email uh me at school at b cla r k bclark at usd as in dog260.com or um uh I I think we have a website uh or on our website we have an email. It's info at coachcowboy.com and uh um we check those regularly.

SPEAKER_04 52:05

That's awesome. Thanks again, guys.

SPEAKER_05 52:07

Yep, thank you. I know as athletic administrators, we are always trying to find resources to help the ones that we lead lead the ones that they lead, like our coaches, trying to find them resources to help make them better in what they do in coaching and impacting the student athletes that they lead. I'm not sure today's episode is what we had in mind for that. I think we probably anticipated a lot of discussion around the one-degree compass program that Coach Clark and Mr. Chase have started there at Derby High School. But as you just heard, this episode is a top shelf resources for our coaches. I can't wait to share it with our coaches, as I imagine you have too. If you're a coach listening, I hope you'll re-listen to it and be able to find something, at least one thing, that you can say, Man, I need to do that. And I think uh we you will be better for it. I think we're all better for this. I love the different aspects of this conversation. When you get into the ideas of feel, not spill, when you talk about having valuable reps, when you talk about when they talk about if you want people to follow, you have to live it. I think Coach Brandon Clark and Mr. Kevin Chase are definitely definitely living in the way that they want to lead and the way that others will follow there in Derby, Kansas. So hopefully we can all pull something from this episode, if not one thing, probably multiple things that we can add to our programs that we can share with our coaches, and that we'll all be better leaders because we heard this conversation with two great leaders there in Kansas. And I'd leave you with one challenge as a leader, find that person or those people who can be on your advisory board. Some people call them board of directors. Find that Kevin Chase who can come into you, your life, and your program, and make it more valuable, not just to prop you up and sustain you, but to add value to the community and organization that you're leading. Man, I know Coach Brandon Clark is happy to have Coach Kevin Chase on his side, and it was such a privilege to catch up with them today. Now, before you go, if you haven't already, we'd ask for you to pause, go to your podcast platform, hit subscribe, hit like, leave us a comment. Man, we really appreciate those comments and that feedback that we get. We help we appreciate you helping us get this message to others in our community. And as always, thank you for spending your time hanging with EAD.