SPEAKER_00 0:04

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

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Today is a first for the podcast as we head to South Dakota and sit down with retired A.D. Joey Struy, who discussed his military service and how it influenced his leadership as an A.D. And how, as leaders, we must continually place a focus on the quote unquote little things in order to lead effectively. Let's settle in and get to know Joey Struey.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Joey, we're so glad to have you joining Don and me for this episode of Hanging with EAD. It's great to finally have a guest from South Dakota join us. So uh you're for you're our first South Dakota guest. So so glad to have you today.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

Hey, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm a pioneer in South Dakota. Wow. That's there you go. I'm honored. I truly am. I'm honored. I appreciate it. That's a good way to put it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

I like that. All right. For our listeners, Joey Struy is a retired high school athletics director. He finished his career in 2023 after spending seven years at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, there in South Dakota. He was also the AD at Harrisburg and spent 17 years as the AD at Estaline High School. Hopefully I said that right. You did. He he also faithfully served in the military as a part of the South Dakota Army National Guard for over 22 years, and we'll talk a little bit about that in a few minutes. During his time as an athletic administrator, he accomplished much, received many awards, was highly esteemed. And some of those highlights include being the recipient of the Jim Teff Achievement Award in 2019, which has since been renamed, but uh quite an award there. He was a 2022 NIAA Distinguished Service Award winner and is a past president of the South Dakota Athletic Administrators Association and a lot more that we could go on and on. But I'll let we'll let Joey tell us a little bit about that. We'll stop right there. Um, Joey, we call this time the to start off with the back of the baseball card bio. So take a minute, tell us what the back of Joey Struy's baseball card will look like.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Wow, that that's a lot. I appreciate that. Um, you know, I I would hope that the the back of my card would would have the words servant leader included in there somewhere. Um, you know, the bios, the stats, the the accolades, those are all great, but that's not what we do it for. You know, there are a lot of students and coaches and and community members that we serve, and we hope that we can can hope to uh uphold the values of our programs and the ideals that we want to reflect from our programs to those people. So I, you know, I hope there aren't just stats on the back of my baseball card.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

That's a really that's a really good answer. I don't think that's one that we've we've heard it articulated that way. That's really good. Now, let's start with your with your military service that we talked about. First of all, thank you for that service. We saw that you serve a tour in Iraq, um, as we mentioned, demonstrated you know, that selfless leadership, uh that servant leadership that you talked about there. Uh, what lessons did you learn from your military training and experience that have transferred over to your career in athletic administration? Obviously, there are things that don't translate, but I would imagine there's a lot that you learn there that you're able to use to make you an effective athletic leader as well.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Yeah, you know, that's interesting. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to articulate this on a podcast or to a large group of people as well, but because you're absolutely right. That time in the military affected the way I became a leader, how I became a leader. You know, you think about the military, you watch movies and TV shows, and you've got the the hardcore drill sergeants who who just pound and pound on things and they yell at people. And and I learned in my time as becoming a leader in the National Guard that when you're working with part-time people, they are people and then they are soldiers. And, you know, so you don't you can't treat them that way. Right. You have to find out their why. You have to find out about them, and because they are different than an active duty military. So I carried that over into my athletic director life to my coaches. Got to find out about their why. What where what's their background and how do they approach things and what matters to them? And and one of the biggest lessons I got was late in my career, during our deployment, we had a change of command within our company. And as company first sergeant, I sat down with the commander shortly after he took uh took command of our company, and he asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks. He asked me, What do you expect of me? And while that's the first time a leader has ever asked me that question. So I took that question and I started applying that to my coaches. What do you expect of me? What do you need from me to help you? And so I've never forgotten that moment. And I tried to carry that forward into my AD life.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

And that's really good. Yeah, that's that's a great question. And uh yeah, one I think I'm gonna employ myself and just see what we get back and see see how I can be a better leader for our for our people here for sure. Uh okay, Joe, we're gonna change gears and and go to your um your athletic administration career. As we mentioned, you served uh, you know, about 30 years or so, uh, more than 30 years in education. Uh, I think your your AD service was 27, 28, almost 30 years there. But we noticed, and when you look at your LinkedIn profile, do some homework, you made a change really late in your career. You you had about 30 years in, you had about 20 years as AD, 17 of them at one school, then a couple at another school. But uh, most people at that point in their career, they're looking to stay comfortable, kind of enjoy the sunset of their career, not really put themselves in in uncomfortable situations, which we know a new position is always uh an uncomfortable situation, right? So you made this move late uh to Lincoln High School there. You followed Jim Dorman, who uh is a colleague of mine right now on the board and a great leader. Um, but you and you didn't just move there and spend like two years and bump your severts or bump your retirement pay or whatever. You spent seven years there, which is really a uh a career in and of itself in athletic administration to do it for seven more years. What kind of energy did it take to put yourself in a new environment that late in your career? Well, you guys are really good at this.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

That's another great question. You know, because I I've reflected on this a lot because you're right. I mean, I I spent, you know, better than 25 years at Estaline. And and then how do you get out of your comfort zone? How do you how do you and that was the impetus is getting out of my comfort zone. Sometimes you don't need know that you need a change until you've made it. Uh and and that was one of those situations. It it was a situation where our youngest daughter was a sophomore when I took the job at Harrisburg. And that was a hard decision because you, you know, she's got two years of school left. But when you're at a small school like that, I was not only the athletic director, but I I had four different uh courses that I had to prep for. I was an assistant coach, I was the network administrator, I was a driver ed teacher, you know, all of those things that you do at a small school. And this was an opportunity for me to become a full-time athletic administrator, and and I'm focused on one job. I had one thing to do. And that is what piqued my desire to move, is that I wanted I wanted that opportunity to be able to do the one job. What's that like? And with all of the experience that I'd had with the SDI AAA, the NIAA, and through the military, I just felt like that was a challenge that I wanted to take on. So I was at Harrisburg for two years. And then when Jim retired at Lincoln, it was an opportunity for me to move to one of the largest schools in the state, one of the top three biggest schools. And I just felt like that was another challenge that I knew that one was going to be the last one in my career, however long that lasted. Um, so that was the impetus for that. And it was tough to follow Jim because Jim is a legend in this state. And Lincoln High School at that time was was known for the the number of state titles they'd win. And they'd just come off back-to-back state football championships and their their cross-country, the track, the tennis, the tennis teams have have all had lengthy uh runs as state champions. And so there was a little bit of pressure, uh, but it was one that I embraced and and I just knew I wanted to take on.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

It's good. Yeah, yeah. Always want to, you know, take opportunities, especially when you can uh follow a great leader and in a championship environment. That's really cool. Hey, I wanted to kind of take a second to add a question in there. You mentioned uh you had served in a role where you did teaching and and everything, right? Small school. I I serve in a role where it's the AD assistant principal, which is common in our area. I know we have that. Uh, we have AD coaches that you mentioned. We have ADs only. So you you got to run the gamut there. What are the pros and cons? Some of us may look and have the same aspiration or interest um in an AD only job, but I I had a previous uh supervisor say, yeah, that's it, it's not all great though. So looking back on it, what are the pros and cons of that AD only role for the ones of us who aren't in that position?

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Well, like I said, obviously you have the the advantage is that you're focused on one job. You have one job. And even at Lincoln, I was my title was assistant principal uh in charge of athletics or activities, I should say. So yes, I was an assistant principal, but I really didn't have any duties outside of being activities director. That was a title only. Um, so the the advantage of of focusing on on one job, on one position, but the disadvantage is, and I think you would probably agree with this, is that the further you advance, the further removed you get from students as participants. And it's easy to forget how how to connect to them. So, how do you stay connected to your to your students? Because you're in a different role. You're you're the the leader of the program now, of all of the programs, and you have to have some separation, but you need to stay connected in order to uh to lead effectively. So, how do you manage that balance? Um you know, one of the things I did at Lincoln was I started a student advisory council that helped me stay connected to the students and to the programs a little better, I felt like. So, so those are the challenges that you face because that requires more of your time, which that commodity never increases, but the things that you need to spend time on do increase.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

That's good. I think that idea, yeah, that that's probably more important than anything I was thinking in my head about the relationship with the students. I I find myself doing the same thing, kind of losing touch in the AP role, especially too. Uh, I was thinking also from a logistics of covering events and things like that. How was your setup there as an AD only? Were you responsible for all coverage, or did the other assistant principals, you know, help you out as far as administrative coverage if you had to do that?

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Well, as you know, as a as a leader, you're responsible for everything. Right. But you're but you can't perform every task. So I mean, there are nights when we have soccer going on and volleyball going on at the same time, and you can't be at both events. So you rely on those assistant principals or or some other uh leader within the school to help you to manage those tasks and carry out those tasks. But but the responsibility is always on the AD. Um, you can never delegate duties, but not not responsibility. And that was one of the things I learned in the military is you know, the the responsibility is always yours. But yes, the assistant principals there, they will help with when I'm at a ball game, uh, if there's a big basketball game with a rivalry or a football game with with anyone, they're at all football games. I'm not responsible for disciplining the student section. If the student section is getting out of hand or chanting something, yes, if I'm there, I'm gonna deal with it, but I might be off doing something else. So it becomes the other principal's responsibilities to work with that. So so yes, they are a great help, great resource.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

So it's still a shared supervision and and uh collaboration there. I know I know some people that are ADs only. I've heard that they are responsible. They have to pay other people to get supervision when they can't do it, and then the assistant principals, because they don't deal with athletics, they don't they don't share responsibilities, they don't have to do a lot of athletic stuff. Uh uh, so I was curious of how that worked with y'all.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

It can run the gamut depending upon which school you're at or which district you're in.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Uh I I think it's easy for people who have multiple responsibilities to say the grass is greener, like you kind of said, Hey, I want to try it out and see. I I aspire to do that, but I don't, I think there's other things you can't see until you get on that side of the table, right? Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

All right. Uh let's move on from there. Um, let's talk about uh we're gonna connect your military career and um athletic administration a little bit with the experiences you had. Um, it's kind of combined those two there. And you may have gotten a question like this a thousand times from your background, but there's a quote from the Navy SEALs that says, you don't rise to the occasion, you sink to the levels of your training, right? Obviously, you have military training and education training, uh, a great combo, unique combo. And you've dealt with many things through your career, some very unique and challenging. And we can guess others are more typical of what an AD deals with, like difficult conversations, personnel issues, event management, and similar tasks that require athletic leaders' reactions, right? Things that every AD deals with. How do you relate that quote that we mentioned to what we do as educators and athletic administrators?

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Well, I'm gonna relate a story um that that's not in that I don't put in my bios, but my first my second year at Harrisburg, uh, we had a school shooter. Um came into the office, actually shot the principal in the arm, the assistant principal, and I subdued the shooter. And it was it was a it was a traumatic situation, but those are situations where somebody asked me, What were you thinking in that moment when you guys were chasing the shooter? So, well, you don't think you know you you don't think about it. If you thought about it, you'd go back to your office and close the door if you thought about it. So your training, your your reaction is based on your reactions are based on your training, your thought processes, and what you've dealt with up to that point. So when you get into those difficult conversations, you've already thought through them. You've already had some training on how to deal with those difficult conversations with parents, with coaches. And that's what gets you through those moments. You can't just show up unprepared without having this thought process that that you're going to go through and what you're going to say, how you're going to say it. Know that the people in those meetings, in those conversations that you're having with them with, have things going on. You don't know what somebody else is going through. If they're reacting in anger, there's something behind it. It's, it's, it's not you. It's it's maybe not even the situation. It might be something else that they're dealing with within their life. So you have to understand that those people, they're people, they have lives, they have other things going on that are bigger than what you're dealing with, but yet this is what's in front of you. So it's really all you can help them with. So you have to have that preparation, those thought processes, and build relationships with your coaches, your students, your community. And that way those things become a lot easier.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

That's really good. And that kind of leads me into my next question. You were quoted in a NFHS article by saying it is the things behind the scenes that really make the difference. And I have said on here many times that there are no little things. Uh, in my opinion, I think everything matters. We've also heard it said greatness is in the details. Uh, I know when you were quoted, you were talking to new ADs, but speak to leadership excellence and how you've witnessed the best of the best doing things behind the scenes or doing those little things that allow them to achieve greatness. Maybe talk about that for a minute.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

All right. Well, let's take next week, for example, we've got the NADC coming up. There's Josh, as you know very well, there's a whole lot of planning that goes on behind that. And the goal is that when those 2,500 athletic directors show up in Austin, they don't notice what's going on to make this happen. So from registration through all of the conference activities, the workshops, the LTC courses, the social gatherings, the hall of fame banquet, all of that stuff happens. When you walk in and you sit down, if you're not part of the planning process, it just all miraculously happens. And it looks beautiful. And you go, wow, this is great. And when somebody goes home as a participant, we want them to say, Wow, that was great. I need to go back again next year. So everything that happens behind the scenes needs to happen without people in the public noticing. And you're right, everything matters. If it didn't matter, why would we bother? So you have to have the details down a pat. Uh there are things that you can get by with that you can react to behind the scenes because you're gonna have to react to it behind the scenes. Um we had a ball game uh two years ago. One of our kids dunked, busted the rim. Well, now what do you do? Okay, you can't see people, you can't have people seeing you stand around going, huh, what do I do now? That's the last thing you want. So you react. Fortunately, we've got another gym that was big enough to hold the crowd that we had. So we just moved down the hall to our other gym, rather than me trying to contact a custodian, hey, and then go, where's our other rim? Where's our spare rim? Well, I promise you that after that, everybody in the state was ordering a spare rim for their gym so that they knew where it was the next day. Um, so so those are things that you look around, you learn from them, and then you apply them to your own situation. But yeah, you if the details didn't matter, then then why bother with the event at all? Take care of the details, don't do it halfway.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Yeah. And I think in in doing that, all the other stuff takes care of itself, you know, at least in my experience. You know, doing those things, everything else takes care of itself. And kind of kind of staying on that and talking about those other pieces. Um, in that same article, you said something that I think is an absolute leadership must, uh, not just in athletic leadership, but in all walks of leadership. Uh it was said that Bill Walsh walked into the 49ers building. He learned every single person's name and their role immediately. He made them feel like they were helping win the Super Bowl, regardless of their title. Um I I saw a video recently about the University of Georgia, their grounds crew that helps their field, you know, stay in pristine condition. When they won their first national title, they got those guys ranked because that was the you know how they felt about their role. You said trust your assistant and administrative team and let them carry the ball at times in order to give you the opportunity to focus on yourself and your family. That giving ownership is something that so many just absolutely cannot do uh for whatever reason. Uh so as the leader, how do you let someone else carry the ball? Uh, what would be a first step if a leader needs to incorporate some delegation of important task or in other words, give away ownership?

SPEAKER_03 21:47

That's a great question. When I left Esteline, where the bus driver and the custodian, uh, you know, they were the that guy was the transportation department, he was the maintenance department, he, you know, he did everything. So when I needed to change a bus time, I just walked down two doors and I told him. Um when I got to Harrisburg, whole new situation. Uh all of those people were different. So I I had to identify, all right, at a football game, who's putting who's responsible for putting up the flag? Who's responsible for making sure that the yard markers are out? Who's doing those things? I mean, I did all of those things before, but now who's doing them things? So you so you have to identify who's doing what. Uh when I got to Harrisburg, I was taking over for an athletic director who he was the type who he was doing it himself. He was doing everything himself. Uh I went to my first volleyball practice there to observe on day one, and and the coach comes over and says, Hey, would you hook up the clock for me? The score clock? You know where it's at, right? I mean, yeah, she said we couldn't touch them. We couldn't we couldn't do that. So he was going into if so, those are the kinds of things that he was doing for them. So I said, uh that was my first clue. Okay, we have to train people on how to do things. So I mean, what happens if I'm not here?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

What happens if things happen?

SPEAKER_03 23:12

Uh who's going to do it? So everybody should know how to do all of those things. So you you let them know your expectations, you teach them how, and then you trust them to exercise their own judgment because in the moment, things are gonna happen. I think it was Mike Tyson said, everybody's got a plan until they get the first first punch in their face, then the plan goes out the window. It's absolutely right. Because you can't say, Well, if this student does this, you have to do that. They have a classroom, they all have a classroom, and we trust them in the classroom to make decisions every day. And I trust them to make decisions at an event that I'm not there so that they can they can handle it. And then if something needs to be corrected, we talk about it, we have an after-action uh review, and we live and we learn and we make things better.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Yeah, I I've I've told people before you were hired for a reason. I I you have been named the head coach. Let's say let's use that example. You were the head coach of this program. I hired you for a reason. That's not just what happens in between the lines, it's the totality of the program. It is possibly setting up the field. It is possibly setting, it doesn't mean that I can't come in and help you out, or I can't have an assistant come in there and do it for you, but ultimately I hired you to do a job. And it's and and doing that job is not just coaching those kids, it's everything else. You know, the dream is the journey, so to speak. So uh I think it's a great point.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

You know, I think that's that to that point, I think they're insulted if we don't allow them to do their job.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

I would.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

I would be. I mean, you're right. Why did we hire them if we didn't think that they could do the job? Now trust them and allow them to do it. Allow them to make mistakes because they're gonna make mistakes. I'm gonna make mistakes and we're gonna learn from them and we're gonna get better. That's we fail forward.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Yeah, fell fail fast, right? Fell fast and fell forward. And and and if we don't, let's say it continues, and I have to kind of step in and hold your hand a little bit, that's fine, but I'm gonna give you the opportunity to figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Yeah. Yeah, you also said something there, what you started with and kind of what you ended with, there's kind of a line in the middle of that previous AD who did everything and didn't let people do things, versus let them do their job. Give them a job and let them do it, right? Um, and if you don't let them do their job, they get insulted. So I think coaches like to be helped, but they like to be helped once you give them the responsibility and they realize how overwhelming that responsibility is, then you step in and say, Hey, how can I help you today? Can I put the nets up for you today? But not every day. Can I put the score clock out? Can I hook up the school board or put the team names up there today? I I won't be able to do this every day, but I'll help you out today, you know.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

So and at the same time, show them that you're that you're still learning. When I got to Esteline, I our school at or excuse me, when I got to Harrisburg, our school at Esteline, we didn't have soccer, we didn't have wrestling. So when I got to the the bigger school, we had those activities. I go to the coach, teach me something today. Teach me something about your sport.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

Okay that will help me help you. What are some things that you need? And then once we got to that past that, I'd say, All right, what teach me about offsides in soccer? Like, what the heck is that about? It's like stopping a fast break in basketball. You can't fast break. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

You figure out you figure out offsides in soccer, you're better than me, and my daughter plays it.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

So that's John's a soccer parent. Nobody knows that rule.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Yeah, good luck.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Yeah, well, that's good to know.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

I agree with you. Like, I don't know how to put it up to volleyball nets 13 years, and I'm scared to death of those things. I'm gonna scared I'm gonna put it up wrong and mess it up. And uh, so I uh this year we had to evacuate, we had to take it down to put the bleachers out to empty our stadium for football, uh, because we were prepared for Saturday. And I'm like, I hope there's a volleyball person here who can go take that net now because I'm not touching it, but I need to learn. That's good, really good. All right, Joey. We're gonna finish up with this one. Uh, it's kind of a question we're gonna finish up with all year, uh, with with all of our guests this year. It comes from a statement in the book. The book is called The Five Graces of Life and Leadership by Gary Burnison. Uh, it's kind of a real good book, uh, like coffee table kind of read, but it's uh it's a great book on grace and leadership. And here's the statement. We just want you to respond to this. Uh, whatever comes to your mind, give us your thoughts on this statement. And the statement is leadership. It starts with a leader, but it's not about the leader.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

How do you respond to that? Oh, that's absolutely true. It's not about me. I like I said, if if people are noticing me at an event, that's wrong. Then I've done something wrong. It's not about me, it's about the kids, and it's about the coaches. Um, we'd win us if we won a state title in whatever it was, people would say, wow, they great job. I said, you know, it's kids and coaches. That's what it is. It's kids and it's coaches. It's not about me. And that's what you want to teach your head coaches as well. It's not about you, it's about them. Uh, we had an award, uh local television station does what they call a Kello Cup. They add up the championship points. If you win a title, you get so many points, finish second place, you get so many points. And Lincoln High School had won that for five years in a row. And they would come to your homecoming celebration or homecoming prep rally the following year and present the trophy. We get kids' representatives from each sport out there to accept that. It's not, you know, I don't want me to be the face of the person going out there to accept that on behalf of the school, because the school isn't me, it's them. That's that's why we're here. Uh, so so yes, uh, I agree completely. If they're seeing me, it's like being an official. If the officials are noticed, they've done something wrong. And and if I'm noticed at an event, it's because something went wrong. And then people are looking at you, and and how do you react to that? And if you're calm about it and you solve a problem, then you go back to the background and nobody thinks about it again. And that's what you want.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

That's great stuff. Really, really good stuff. Well, Joey, that's uh you you really made us better today. We appreciate uh you sharing, especially the uh traumatic incident back in your in your career. Uh, but as you look back on your career and you share those nuggets of wisdom, it really helps the rest of us who are still in it. We appreciate that. We know you're still in it with your involvement there in South Dakota, also your involvement with the PDA staff uh in the NIAA. So thank you for serving and being a model of excellence for for the rest of us and sharing with us today uh kind of things that made you so successful when you were sitting in our chair. And we're gonna now finish up with our two-minute drill. We'll get to know you a little bit better, have a little fun, ask some fun questions, uh, easier questions, I hope. And uh we'll let Don kick us off with that.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Okay, Joey, we're gonna hit you with some rapid fire questions. You just tell us the first thing that comes to your mind, okay?

SPEAKER_03 30:34

All right.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

What was the first job you ever had ever in your life?

SPEAKER_03 30:39

Uh I mowed lawns, uh, shoveled sidewalks when I was a kid, a teenager. That was kind of the family business. I'm the youngest of six, and I got handed down all of the lawns in the neighborhood that needed to be mowed, and I made about a quarter per lawn back then. Yeah, handed down. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

You probably got you probably got handed the lawnmower in the snow shovel a lot sooner than the rest of those uh siblings, I bet.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Well, yeah, when you're bigger, you get to pound the the guy into doing the the smaller sibling into going. You get out there and shovel that one. I'm not going out there.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Oh man, bless your heart. All right, who is on your Mount Rushmore of athletic directors?

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Oh, that's tough. I have to choose four. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

You would know Mount Rushmore better than the rest of us, I bet.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Well, there are only four faces up there, so um boy. Uh can I I I can break this down. Let's go um South Dakota.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

Hey, we'll we'll we'll give you, we'll give, we'll give all the people you're gonna leave out just a preface or whatever. He's he's now he can't pick everybody, right? I mean, you just can't pick everybody. So somebody's gonna get their feelings hurt and just get over it. He's gonna be able to do that. And I'm gonna blame you guys because you made me narrow it down. That's right. It's our fault. We put you on the spot, didn't prep you, and said give us four. So somebody's gonna get left out for the bigger.

SPEAKER_03 32:01

So I'm gonna I'm gonna split this up between South Dakota. I'm gonna do two from South Dakota, I'll go two from National. So South Dakota, I've got Jim Dorman uh and Steve Bursett. Those were the two guys that got me hooked into the service to the South Dakota Athletic Directors. And at the national level, the two guys that got me hooked, uh, Jim Watkins and Don Bales. Um, those were the ones who drew me in. They those those four people invited me in. And leadership, as you know, is an invitation. And we have to invite people to serve. And and they invited me, they embraced me, they taught me, they guided me, they mentored me, and they continue to do those things.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Good deal. All right, we're gonna ask you some questions. Here we play a game of hot or not. So these are things that are either a hot take or they're not a hot take. So it's you know, a hot take is an unpopular opinion that a person feels strongly about. So if you say it's a hot take, you agree with it. If it's not, then you don't agree with it. The only way to eat pizza is from the crust to the end of the slice. So you start with the crust and work your way back. Is that a hot take? He said he said no. He said no.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

All right, another hot or not. A house cat would survive in the wild longer than a house dog. Oh, that's hot.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

I totally agree. Uh all right, hot or not, watching sports on TV is better than being there in person.

SPEAKER_03 33:35

Oh boy. I say that's not. I say that's not. It depends on the sport, too. I I mean, if I've if I'm invested in the team, then I want to be there.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:52

But if I'm not, I'd rather watch Kentucky and North Carolina on TV.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

All right, there you go. Guy from South Dakota talking about Kentucky and North Carolina basketball. That's interesting. But uh I grew up a Tar Heels fan. I don't know how that happened. Yeah, you're a long way from Tar Hill Country, but that uh that makes sense. They were pretty good back then, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

I just like the fact that I'm like, you know, 10 yards from my bathroom, and I'm the only one using it if I'm watching it on TV. So there's that.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Yeah. All right. Last hot take. Smart watches make you less productive. Oh, that's hot.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Yeah, I agree. All right. Uh, what is the easiest thing that you can do to become a better leader immediately or overnight? The easiest thing that you can do to become a better leader overnight.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Find someone who's been in the business for a while who you respect and talk to them. Find out from them what they've made mistakes at. Find out what works for them, what doesn't work for them, and apply it in your daily life. Good answer. I think you need a mentor. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

I tell people, hey, if you're doing that, call Joey Shruey right there. You got you, he just he just told you to call him right there. Uh he just invited you to call him. Anytime. He'd be a great one to learn from there. So, all right. So we did our homework on South Dakota. We found some popular professionals who have come out of the state of South Dakota. And we're going to connect that to your next question. So we have Brock Lesnar, UFC fighter, WWE wrestler, Terry Francona, uh baseball manager, uh, very successful, and Adam Venateri, NFL kicker, are all from the state of South Dakota. So if we take those three sports, what could you do first? Could you kick a 35-yard field goal? Could you hit a major league baseball fastball? Or could you appear uh could you pin an opponent in the ring?

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Wow. I'm thinking of the odds of making the field goal would be better than me doing any of those other things. Now, now you left off Mike Miller, uh, played played professional basketball for the Magic. He played with LeBron, followed LeBron around a lot. Um he played for 14, 15 years in the NBA.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Well, okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Yep, yep, made a good living at it.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

So you'd rather be shooting a free throw.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

I'd rather be shooting a free throw. Thanks. You didn't even give me that option.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think any of them are as easy as a free throw, and I'm not very good at basketball.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Yeah. Well, technically, you know, technically, we're talking about wrestling, not wrestling. Yeah. So you maybe if you, you know, if the price is right, maybe you could script it so that you could get the pen. So there is that.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

But Brock did, in his defense, he did make his mark in South Dakota as a wrestler, not a wrestler.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Right. Yeah. Uh all right. If you could pick any age to go back to, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Any age that I was, or any any age that you that you were. Okay. I I'd say my late 20s, early 30s, because I wasn't I I was still physically able to do some things, but I wasn't as dumb as I was as a teenager.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

That's a good answer. You weren't to the age that you go to bed and hurt yourself when you wake up, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Yeah, that's good. Okay, let's finish with this. Our trademark question today, Joey Struy, you've been hanging with the ADs, but let's say you could hang out with anyone. Who would that be and why?

SPEAKER_03 37:39

I could hang out with anyone. You know, that's a tough question. There are a lot of people who who you would love to pick their brains. Uh living or dead?

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Yes, sir. Either or.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Yep. Either or. Um I I would say I love American history. So I would like to pick Abraham Lincoln's brain.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

Second that.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

I love American history. Just to get his hot takes on what's going down. He seemed like a good leader.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

That's a that's a good hand. Yep. Uh Joey, thank you so much for the time today. We appreciate your work uh with ADs across the country. Uh, you've made us and our listeners better today. So thanks again for the time.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

Yeah, thank you, Don. Thank you, Josh. I appreciate you having me on and look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

A lot of discussion around communication is centered on listening. And a lot of times when we are talking to people, I know for myself, I am not doing a good job of listening. But when we talk to certain people and we actually focus on listening, we find ourselves saying, Wow, that was a nugget of wisdom. Wow, that was another nugget of wisdom, wow, there's another one, and another one, and before you know it, you leave that conversation just filled with insight and inspiration and better than you started the conversation. That's how I felt today. Listening to Joey Struy, an accomplished, uh, esteemed athletic administrator for over uh right at 30 years as athletic director and over 30 years in education, but also combine that with a career in the military just gave us a very unique perspective and conversation today. And man, the nuggets. I mean, if you go back and listen to this or you just took notes on it, you have them right there in front of you. I'm looking at mine right here. You know, just some of the nuggets. Sometimes you don't know you need the change until after you make it. That's strong, right? Everything matters, and if it didn't, why would we bother? Wow, there you go. Just so much good stuff. What do you expect of me is that question that that commander asked him. Man, you talking about a question to elevate our leadership ability with our people. Ask that question to your people. I know I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna start trying to do that. Communicate expectations, leadership. It's an invitation. We have to invite people to serve. And then the last one there at the end, he talked about it. It sums it all up for us, right? Puts it, ties a bow on it. It's about the kids and the coaches. That's what we're here for. It's about the kids and the coaches. Nugget after nugget after nugget from Joey Struid. Joey, thanks for joining us today. We love being around you. Uh, we appreciate your service uh to our country, to the folks in South Dakota, and now to all athletic administrators in your work as the NIAA PDA staff member. So thank you for that. Appreciate you joining us today and making us better. We uh greatly appreciate it. And as we ask you every time, we would love for you to leave us a rating or review on the podcast platform you're listening to. It helps elevate our podcast on those podcast platforms, on the Google searches and such. And as always, thank you for spending your time hanging with the ADs.