SPEAKER_00 0:04

You're listening to the Hanging with J 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_03 0:17

Today's episode is one of those special moments for our podcast. A true honor to sit down with one of the greatest to ever play the game. Our guest is Pro Football Hall of Famer, College Football Hall of Famer, and Georgian legend Champ Bailey. Over a 15-year NFL career with Washington and Denver, Champ became the gold standard at the quarterback position, earning 12 Pro Bowl selections, seven all-pro honors, and a reputation as one of the most complete defensive players in football history. But for all the accolades and highlight reels, what has always set Champ apart is who he is off the field. A humble leader, a devoted teammate, and now a passionate advocate for developing the next generation of athletes through his partnership with positive athletes. In this conversation, we talk with Champ about leadership, the importance of doing the little things right, and why recognizing athletes for their character is every bit as important as celebrating their stats. So step back and enjoy this special episode as we hang out with one of the best to ever do it, Hall of Famer Champ Bailey, right here on the Hangin with the AD podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Champ, we're so glad to have you joining, Don and me for this episode of Hanging with the AD. When we got a call that a Hall of Famer wanted to join us, that might have been the easiest yes we've ever uh given or you know had a chance to give. So thanks for taking time to sit down and join us today.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

My pleasure, guys. Great to be with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

All right. So for our listeners, though, uh I'm not sure he needs any introduction at all, especially to folks here in Georgia. Champ Bailey is one of the greatest defensive backs to ever play the game of football, a pro football hall of famer, a college football hall of famer, and one of the most respected names in all of sports. He's a Georgia native champ starred at the University of Georgia as a two-way player on offense, defense, and special teams. I guess we should say three-way player. He earned consensus All-American honors, the Bronco Nagersky Award as the nation's top defensive player and has earned several other awards, uh many other awards uh throughout his career. He played in NFL for 15 years. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019, but Champ's legacy goes way beyond his stats. He's known for leadership, humility, and passion for developing next the next generation of athletes. Uh so champ, we want to stop right there. We uh we'll let you fill in the gaps. Tell us what you want to tell us. But we call it uh the little bio here the back of the baseball card bio, but obviously you have plenty of football cards. So tell us what you would like the back of Champ Bailey's football card to look like.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Oh wow. Uh well, first of all, appreciate you having me. Um, this is uh, you know, as a as an athlete, I would say, you know, starting out high school, you know, I think one of the most important things I wanted to be known for was accountability. And, you know, just making sure I showed up and whatever my responsibilities were, I was accountable to those. And, you know, I've tried to carry that and throughout my professional life and now post-career. And, you know, as as my journey was ongoing, well, one thing I learned was the best way to lead was by example. So anybody who, you know, is on my team or or I'm training or whatever the relationship may be, I would just hope that they can understand they can depend on me. You know, I stand by my word. You know, I'm passionate about what I'm doing and the information I'm giving to them. And, you know, I that's just the way I was raised. And fortunate enough for me, I've been surrounded by a lot of great athletes. And I think just out of respect for my teammates and my potential team and my former teams, you know, it's I don't ever want anybody to say, well, that guy didn't do what he was supposed to do. And I think if you can do that much, that gets you to the point where, you know, people review you or at least remember you as somebody that gave it their all and did what they were supposed to do. I mean, there's those, you know, the old saying, just do your job. I'm a firm believer in that. I still preach that today, you know, to any kids I'm around that I'm training or, you know, working with, it's it's gonna live until that phrase is gonna live until the day we die, the day we leave sports and outside of sports. So it's it's it's one of those, you know, it, yeah, you hate to hear it, but it's really that simple. And I I just sort of wanted to be always known for that, right? And in high school, our coach would always teach us to expect to win, but there's a lot that comes before that. And that process is what I want people to realize is what's most important. The process to become in a position to expect to win. So I give my coach a lot of credit, uh, Coach McWater for instilling those values in us and holding us accountable every step of the way throughout high school, which propelled me to a long and and really fortunate pro-career, you know. So it was it was really those things, that foundation that was laid early.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Yeah, that's good. You mentioned um how you were raised and your coach there in high school, uh, leaving a lasting impact. And you went to Charlton County High School down in Folkestone, Georgia, which is on the Georgia-Florida border, way down South Georgia, down where Don't from. I know Don has a story, not necessarily a Champ Bailey story, but a Folkeston, uh South Georgia story that uh kind of paints a picture of where you're from. We'll let him kind of share this story.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Yeah, we were talking before we got on air in back in the day in the early 90s, uh Hal Mummy was the head football coach at Valdasta State, and Mike Leach of college football fame was one of his assistant coaches. Uh, and Coach Mummy sent him to Folkestone to recruit. And uh, for those of you that don't know the geography of the state of Georgia, Valdasta is really close to the swamp and Folkestone is in it. And he sent him uh to go recruit, and he goes, Listen, I'm telling you, there's athletes there. So pre-cell phone, uh pre-easy communication, and Coach Leach calls it and he's about halfway there and he goes, Listen, I'm in the middle of nowhere. I don't know, there's not a house, there's there's not anybody to recruit. And he goes, just keep going. Coach Leach called him about half an hour later and he said, Man, you don't understand. There are athletes everywhere here. I have no idea how you found it, but I'm glad you did, because there is a there's a ton of talent in this place. He is not lying.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

That is the truth. I tell people all the time, like, I know I was a great athlete, I was good at this, that, and I had a great pro career, but man, there's some guys I grew up with, some a little older than me, some a little younger, that were just as good or even better at some of the things I was good at. I would, I was you can go back and look at my junior year in high school. We won state and track. Now, a lot of those track athletes didn't play football for whatever reason. And I don't know if it was a toughness thing, it was, you know, the grind of it, because back then, you know, we had three of days. So football was not pleasant. But man, they were the best jumpers. I remember Job Hannons, one of my he was older than me, one of the best athletes I've ever been around. He won the high point trophy at a track meet. We won state. And there was another guy who just passed away a couple weeks ago, Narada Gibbs. He was a year older than me. Same class. That's why we won state. Those dudes were amazing athletes. 100, 200, your uh, 100, 200 meter dash winner. I mean, just excellent athletes. And fortunate for me, you know, football just there's a next level for football. And it's it's pretty clear, and that path was clear. I just had to walk it the right way. And, you know, those guys could have been amazing track athletes in college. It just wasn't, it wasn't promoted the way football was. And, you know, unfortunately, that their careers ended right after high school. But I go back and tell people all the time that just if if I would if there was tape, I would tell you to go watch it. But we all know there's no tape on any track meets back then. But you know, we grew up in a hotbed of athletes, and it hasn't changed. I think what's changed more is just more distractions and pulling people away from sports more than they have been in the past. But grew up with some great athletes. I mean, I give those guys a lot of credit for really helping me shape what I've done and raising the standard for me because they were faster, they were stronger, they were, they could jump farther, and I was known for all that. But I could always point to them as being better. So I give my give them a lot of credit for pushing me to where I went out and for where I was able to go and what I've done in my career.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Yeah, it's good. We'll we'll talk about positive athlete here in a few minutes, but we'll get into that uh idea of um you got to overcome adversity, you got to overcome your surroundings, you got to overcome those distractions, right? And we all have those distractions and think you're a prime example of how you overcame everything and took advantage of opportunities. And when you combine those two, you um you you get to have an elite career a lot of times. But chat, let's start talking about uh leadership. We focus on leadership on this podcast. We can focus it on leadership. I know all throughout your life, which included that Hall of Fame football career, you've been with some uh upper echelon leaders, both coaches of yours and peers that you played alongside. When I looked at you know some of your background, I mean, you played with some of the the best of the best, and obviously you were one of those, uh, some of the big names. If we ask you to pick out one leader that has crossed your path and the impactful lessons that that leader left you with, who would that be? And what leadership lessons did they teach you that still apply to you today? Oh man, Daryl Green.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Um, I saw that name and I said, I bet that's that's a guy. Yeah. I mean, well, it was it was timing, really, because uh man, I I could go back before college and and talk about guys, but I think the when I got to Washington, first off, you know, I get there, and here's this guy that's already had a Hall of Fame career. I think he's in the 16th, 17th season at the time. I get there and I was fortunate enough to have a coach like Tom Hayes that allow Del Green to just teach me everything that I needed to know to be a successful young corner. And I didn't have that in college. And it wasn't because I didn't have good coaches, it was just the nuance of playing cornerback. It's nobody can really teach you that unless they're doing it or have done it and experience the way that Daryl Green did. So Daryl Green just took, he may, he maybe watched me practice for about three or four weeks just to see how I moved so he could coach me correctly. Now, coaches usually don't have time for that. So for me, I was lucky because I got a guy that's actually living and has done everything that I'm trying to do. So I just embraced it. And the thing you gotta imagine, we're both we're two different types of corners. He's a shorter guy, quick, fast. He depends on his speed and quickness a lot. I'm a bigger, longer arms, strong guy that can stand at the line of scrimmage, but I'm also quick and fast. So he had to understand what my tools were and what I was trying to do, so he can then further teach me what I should be doing. And he would always have this saying, you know, and I had some t-shirts made because I teach that to a lot of kids. Hands are great, feet are better. Because I think there's this perception of playing bump and run where people think they have to get their hands on you. Well, he taught me that you don't have to get your hands on everybody to disrupt them. And I took, I took that to heart because it showed on tape how he was disrupting people without touching anybody. Because he didn't want to touch people because he got pushed around because he's a smaller guy. Now that's just on the field. Now, you talk about what he was doing off the field. He had all these literacy centers that he was building, he was doing all this charity work. I mean, all that while he was having a Hall of Fame career. So even to this day, Dell Green, we'll we'll connect on some business level and he pushes opportunities my way. If I hear anything, I push opportunities his way if possible, but not like he needs me. But he's just shown me how to take what I've learned on the field and all those lessons and those relationships that I built and how to create a business out of it. The dude never stops, you know, teaching me things. And I never stop trying to learn. And he's the ultimate leader. Like he is just one of those. He I'm always, and I and I said this at the beginning of the call, I like to lead by example. So if I'm gonna tell you to do something, I'm either doing it myself or I saw somebody else do it, and I can point point to it. You know, everybody's journey is gonna be different, but the leadership within those journeys really shape the path that you create for yourself. And I give Del Green a lot of credit for that.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

That's good stuff. Now, we've talked about you mentioned running track earlier and that idea of being a multi-sport athlete, right? I know it's easy for folks like us to say the you know terms like back in the day, right? It makes us sound like we're old guys on the porch yelling at clouds, you know, saying when we talk about multi-sport athletes, but you lived it. Uh competing year-round at an elite level. So maybe talk for a moment about the value of playing multiple sports to, you know, at younger ages and why you believe today's coaches should still encourage their top athletes to do the same, even if it means seeing them a little less during the offseason.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Yeah, it really makes you a well-rounded athlete, you know. And one thing about it, man, when you're in the especially at the high school level, you don't know what path you're gonna take. You know, you don't know how good you could be in basketball if at the time you're better in football. So I encourage these different kids to play other sports. You know, I'm sort of dealing with that with my 15-year-old son. He's he's contemplating quitting basketball because he he wants to focus on football. Now, he's at a point where he's a really good football player, and he's at a school that has a really good basketball program. So he's like, Well, I'm not an elite basketball player, probably not gonna start. I probably play JG. So in the back of my mind, I'm like, well, I want you to still try to play, but I also want you to love the process of going out there and practicing and really embrace that. Well, I'm gonna let it make his choice, but I think he understands like what it does for him. And I also want him to be around this basketball coach because they're really good coaches. So just understand different levels of leadership and the way teams are built gives you so much insight on you know the role you could play, you know, the the accountability that each individual sport has that's different from the next, right? So his experience with that is gonna be crucial as he gets beyond sports. But, you know, it's really still, yeah, I want him to be passionate about it. So I will leave a lot of that up to him. Now, fast forward the track, he stopped playing baseball last year, but there was a replacement for that during the spring. He started running track, and he's doing it because it helps football. I don't care why he's doing it, it's more I want you to be around different structures of teams so you can see the different leadership qualities that it takes for each each group because you'll learn you learn so much that way, and it's not just about the physical part of it, it's it's the mental part of it. Because as we know, there is not a tougher sport to practice than football, right? You spend most of your time practicing baseball, you spend most of your time playing games, basketball, same way. You're playing games two or three times a week, but football, you have to learn how to practice. And I'm a really big, big preacher on the way you practice is how I expect you to play. You if you dog it in practice, you gotta dog it in the games. If you go hard in practice, you're gonna go hard in the games. Now, games become easier. So, you know, I'm all about all the sports, but the passion has to be there. I think it really helps shape the kids and how they interpret you know their roles and how they you know follow different leaders within a team structure. But it also from a physical attribute, it helps a lot.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

I think you bring up a great point. It's that uh of hearing different voices. You're going to be, you know, you're gonna be coached different, you know, depending on what that sport is or who, and to your point, the level of that program. If it's a high-level program, that expectation is gonna be there. And then newsflash, when you get in the world, right, you're going to have to deal with different bosses or different coworkers or different clients or whatever it may be controlled.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

You can control any of that.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Right, right. Now, as athletic administrators, we work with a lot of coaches who want to win. All right. And that's that's understandable. I totally get it. And they want their best players on the field as much as possible. What would you say to those coaches who believe that in order to win big, they've got to have their top player specializing training year-round in their sport? What would you tell them?

SPEAKER_01 19:08

I I think there's some level of truth to that, that you want them to stay engaged with their, you know, primary sports. I think most kids have a primary sport, most of them, right? And I get it. You know, I see the coaches, you know, deal with players that don't want to show up to lift weights. But see, but what they don't understand is if you're training, you you could train for multiple sports while you're training for football. And my point is like lifting weights is universal. Right. You know, footwork drills are universal. Like it helps everything. And if football is your primary sports, which in the South, most kids, you know, most boys are playing football as their primary sport. I mean, it's just the numbers are just greater. And sometimes they're they're playing other sports. I want them, if they're giving it their all in their the the the I guess the system that they're in as far as basketball is is really working, you know, a lot, like a lot of conditioning, a lot of uh, you know, just just any anything that's physical that you can relate or transfer to football, that should be enough, right? But what you what you can't do is when you have a lot of downtime, it's really take your mind because you could be working on the mental aspect of the game and just understanding X's and O's and you know how to play better, and you know, just you know, just watching film on different guys. Like it's there's so many ways to enhance your game without physically, you know, dogging yourself. But because every sport has that component. Now, when you get to baseball, we obviously know baseball doesn't train the way football and basketball does. So maybe you have to enhance your training regimen to you know compensate for the downtime you have in baseball. So it's really just making sure you're staying on top of it, staying and getting better. Like I I see, I can see both sides, right? I see some kids, they play all these sports, they go to they go do wrestling, they go do baseball, and then they come back to football and they haven't gotten better. Well, there were times where you could have gotten better, you know. You could have watched Morte, you could have gotten it.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

Yeah, life life's all life life's all about choices, right? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

And you have to have some balance. But again, like if you want something, you have to put time into it. If you're wanting to be a better player, you have to work to get better. It just doesn't happen. So you got to think about what it's the goal here, and then what's the process to get there, and just learn to love that process.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Yeah, that's really good. Really good. All right, chat. One more question before we get into positive athlete stuff. Uh, you were known for not cutting. And you've kind of already mentioned that about being accountable to your role and your job. Uh maybe, maybe a quick message that we could share with our young athletes that we either have in our athletic department or coaches listening to this or coaching these young athletes. Uh, what's a quick message about the importance of doing the boring things well? Those fundamentals that we think are boring. Uh, but what's what's important? Uh, what's a message about doing those things well?

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yeah, I've said that a few times in the past. Like being great is really boring. Like it's good, it's it's a repetitive process. It's and I can't you can't shy away from the process. And you know, it's crazy because now they're on in football. The kids still hear me talk. I'm well, just so you give a little backstory. I am an official coach on my son's football team, but um I don't have official responsibilities. My point is, if I didn't show up tomorrow, they would be fine without me, right? They would be just fine. But I do know I bring value when I'm there. I don't have real responsibilities. I'm just an add-on. And I love that, right? They let me come and go as I please, but I respect the coaches, they do a great job with the kids. But I the kids are they kill me all the time because it was like, man, we were doing this back in you know at camp. Like, yeah, this is this is how it works. What we do on day one, we will be doing on day 100. That's just how it works. So get used to doing the same thing over and over and over because there is no perfect, it's just excellence. There it and the only way that you can achieve excellence is to have an excellent process, and that's what we have. We're gonna do everything all the time, over and over again, because there is no end game here. We're gonna play game until you leave school. This is what's gonna happen when you're around me. Plain and simple, because what I do know is when you're tired, when when things aren't going your way, when you when you have a bad play, the next play is coming. So are you gonna give up on everything you've learned, or you're gonna be so dialed in and trained that you never forget that technique that it takes to win that down? That's all that matters. The down in front of you is all that matters. What's happened, we'll go learn from it, but there's nothing you can do about it. But if you're worrying about that, we're gonna move on to the next thing. And it's all about what we learned on day one and day 100. Period. It's no, it's no secret, it's no secret formula. Like this is the process that it takes to be great. And if you don't achieve greatness on the last play, we're gonna do it on the next one. So and it's really simple. It's that's why I try to take the confusion out of it because again, it's not it's not rocket science. You either do the work and get good results, or don't do the work and get better results. It's where it works. That's the way it works, and that's life too. So anything that I'm telling them, I always try to make it seem like there's the life component, life lesson within this. And and that's what I love about football because it it's a grinder sport. Like you don't, again, you don't play a lot of games, you just practice a lot. For every game, there's three or four practices, like tough practices. So that that takes a lot of uh it takes a strong mindset to really grow through that. And then when you look back and realize how much work you've put in, how much better you've gotten, that's that's what it's all about. And then you don't even think about the work after that because you know it works. So I love being able to say this is what we've become because of all this work we've done. But guess how much better we can get? And that that's sort of how I I approach that mindset of the boring process.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Yeah, 100%. I used to tell the kids that I would coach, I said, the dude, it's like the waves at the ocean. There's another one coming in like you know, 10 seconds. So very well said. So we we we don't have to have time to think. You can have it, you can have it. It's like the waves on the ocean. We don't have time to think. And so if we've done this 10,000 times, we've taken the the thought out of it, right? We know exactly what to do. And regardless, if that first wave knocked us down, we got to get up because here's another one coming, and we've got to be, you know, ready to take it on. Now, let's talk about your work with Positive Athlete. This is a program that started up in Pennsylvania, really took off here in Georgia and now nationally, recognizing student athletes, not just for what they do on the field, uh, but who they are off of it. You recently partnered with them, and I think it's an absolute home run of a fit. Tell us about how you first got connected with Positive Athlete, what drew you to their mission, and then kind of to elaborate on that, how's it been going so far and where do you see Positive Athlete headed in the future?

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Oh, wow. Um, well, start with this. You know, as a as a Hall of Fame player or, you know, as a former professional athlete, because a lot of guys that didn't make the Hall of Fame deal with this, we've always been posed with the responsibility of, you know, giving back in some way. And typically that, you know, the result of that is usually football camps or something surrounding the sport we play. And I've I've I've never really liked the idea of just being able to speak to football players. So I've always wanted to speak to all athletes. And, you know, on some level, I could do that as a Hall of Famer, but I wasn't always a Hall of Famer, right? That only happened six years ago. So before that, I was, you know, I had that ambition to want to talk to more kids, you know, and really give back in that way. Well, there was there's really no good way to do it, you know, you know, at scale. All right, fast forward a couple years. Um, a friend of mine, former teammate, who's now the lieutenant governor, running for governor in Georgia, uh Bert Jones, he reaches out to me. Oh, we run into each other. And then he was like, hey man, let's connect. We had lunch. And he was like, Man, I want to put you on this committee for workforce development. And I'm like, what the hell is this? You know, I'm not trying to get involved in politics or anything. So he just sort of explained, he was like, Well, there'll be an entrepreneur on the panel, there'll be some senators, and there'll be, you know, from both sides of the aisle. It's like, okay, this seems fair enough. It's more about business. This is what I the world I want to live in. So I quickly adapted to that and embraced it. And next thing you know, we're visiting these big industries, and the common theme around these industries, air and their grievances and problems to us, was they they didn't like the talent within the workforce. For one, they couldn't find good talent. Two, they couldn't retain good talent. So I kept asking the question after every meeting. We did just like, I think we had six big meetings. We're talking about like the biggest corporations in the state. And I'm like, well, why don't you hire athletes? Well, then the follow-up to that would be there, where do we find them? Like, we can go to this school district, that student did, but then that becomes, you know, it's so fragmented, it's no comprehensive way to get to a lot of them. I swear it was probably a month after I finished that, I meet Scott and uh Ryan Peterson, father-son, who's running positive athlete through a mutual connection. And once I really understood what they were doing, they also had the ambition of using this platform as a workforce development platform, as in what's next for these athletes. Now, a lot of these athletes on the platform aren't the ones that are stuffing the stat sheet, right? They're the ones that are doing the community work, persevering through injury or, you know, some family issue or some chronic illness. I mean, the ones that, you know, have that really show what it means to be a leader and you know, to give back. So these are the high character people that you want to target or that companies really want to come work for them. So it was a perfect marriage. And we've been working together almost a year now. And through that, I've just realized the power in what we're doing, just through the award ceremonies that we've had for these kids. Now, we recognize them. Now, this is ninth through 12th kids playing all sports, all genders. I mean, there is no limit on how many kids can be on this platform. Well, what we do is the leaders around them, the ADs, the coaches, the parents, we empower them or encourage them to nominate these kids as positive athletes within their ecosystem. And there's no limit to how many they can nominate. It could be a whole team, or it could just be the best of the best who they think deserves this opportunity to get a scholarship and be recognized. And it's been great because what we what I really I think the first thing that clicked for me is what does that do to the mindset of an athlete that's not getting all the minutes, that's not stuffing the stat sheet? Well, it makes them more confident and it and highlights things that people don't usually value in real time, you know, as a young kid, you know, showing up to read to young, younger kids or overcoming an injury and getting back on the field. Although you probably weren't the best player on the team, you still had to deal with that. So that that that tells a lot about your character and who you are. So there were so many different reasons why it registered or it resonated with me about the impact of this. And it's not just about what's next, it's about what they're doing right now. And let's let them know this is how it's supposed to be. When you're an adult, this is how adults act, you know. And we all know, like athletes on campus around the country, at the high school level specifically, are the influencers.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

So the more you can empower them and connect them with opportunities, they're they're willing to tell those stories and that experience of what it was like to be recognized as a positive athlete. And then bridging that gap and and and making sure that they they are valued in the world outside of sports. Because I think a lot of guys, a lot of people when they transition from sports, don't really know who they are. They they struggle with what's next. And we try to catch them early.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah, that's good. I love the aspect of uh it's it's an opportunity to nominate and recognize any any athlete for positivity, but also, and I know Scott had had that dream of connecting uh not only nominations and recognitions to the workforce for he's had that for years and years when uh we started it here, Pope, and it's uh it's coming to fruition with your connections there. That's really, really good. So hey uh chap, why do you think it's important to highlight athletes uh for who they are off the field? You just kind of mentioned that identity piece. Um, why is that? Kind of elaborate on that, uh, helping you know identify and recognize what kids do off the field more than just their stats in the win column.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

So I honestly like I'm a good example. Like I know I went, had a great college career, Hall of Fame pro career, but I'm done. I'm done playing. So what matters now? It's the the things I learned from sports, you know, it's the soft skills, right? Just knowing how showing up on time, you know, shaking people's hands the right way, you know, being accountable to your teammates, you know, to the mission. That's that's what it means to be in corporate America, right? So so and also the bridges I built, the networks I built, it came through sports, but does anybody want to work with a a guy that didn't show up on time that that that wasn't a good teammate, yeah, that didn't work hard? No. So those bridges I built and the network that I tap into now, all they're gonna remember, and I deal with this consistently because I'm in Georgia. So I run into former classmates, teammates from time to time, and all they remember is how I made them feel, right? When they interacted with me, whether it was in class or or around campus. But guess what? They're running corporations, they're they're they're politicians. Do you think my my boy Bert Jones doesn't reach out? Do you think he reaches out to me if he had a bad experience as a walk-on at Georgia? Right. His freshman year, and I was a, for lack of better words, an asshole of him? Like, no, he doesn't. So, and he watched me work, he watched me do what I did my last year in Georgia, being a all-American. And that stuck with him until the day I was done. So that's the only reason he reaches the back out. So when you're an athlete, man, you're learning all these things, and you're you're surrounded by a lot of great people. But again, when you hang it up, none of that really matters except what you did in that process. Right. And the bridges you built and the network that you've sort of built, you know, without even thinking about it. Because we know how sports connects people. And when you're when you're a good athlete or you're just somebody that's done the good, the right things, people don't forget that. And that's what I lean on now. So regardless of when you hang it up, that time will come. Like that time will come when you're done doing it. And you should be prepared. If you if you played any sport, you should be prepared for what's next. Because nothing in this country is more demanding than an athlete on a really good team, you know, that are asked to do really crazy things, you know, because we you often know like the the training regimen or the practices can get a little out of hand at times, but that builds a tough individual. So people are always gonna value that.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Yeah, I think there's a great message there that you just shared that we don't hear very often, but um, you know, coaches listing and AD's listing can share it with their athletes. Hopefully, athletes, maybe even college athletes, get that message of you got to go to class. And when you go to class, like you just said, those people sitting in those classes are gonna be people that want to hire you as the former athlete one day, hopefully, or they're not gonna want to hire you. And and it's it, you know, not only did you make an impression on a walk-on teammate, uh, you probably made an impression on those people sitting in those classes there at UGA. Uh, but that that's important. You you make an impression everywhere you go as an athlete. And and that athletic athletic of uh opportunity is gonna run out sooner than that uh impression is.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

So you know, Josh, I you know, just to add another little uh, you know, story to this. There's a kid uh on our current team that I'm with on my son's team. And you know, for the past few weeks, he's showing up late to practice, you know, and it was always the same reason. I had detention, or there was some, I had to do this, I had to take a quiz, or there was always a reason. And as you know, who gives out the tension? The teachers. So I'm like, man, you know, your relationships with your teachers are gonna affect every relationship in your life right now. And you know, what do you mean, coach? Like, what do you when you show up late to practice? Now I'm questioning, can I depend on this guy? So now you're affecting the relationship with me because I know when you're here, you work harder than anybody, you want to stay out to practice every day. But when you show up late, now I start to question that. And people that don't deal with you physically every day, like I'm dealing with him every day. He's in my face, I'm in his face every day. When they don't, all they see is you walk in late. Now, when those coaches on this staff, ironically, anything can happen two years from now. They're in another place, they're at some college. Now they're gonna ask, Well, what about this kid? You want them to have a good ex or a good memory of how you were as a teammate, but you don't and I understand you don't see that right now, but that's how life works. Like every relationship or bad one can affect a good one. So you make sure that the teachers love you because you probably wouldn't get detention if you did. If you was like, Oh, I fell asleep in class. All right, fell asleep in class. Well, I'm sure I get I didn't get the whole story, but you know, but but at the same time, like if you fell asleep in class and you've been so great up until that point, teacher's probably not gonna give you detention.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

So your reputation that you build affects everything, every relationship affects every relationship. So just try not to have bad ones. Of course, you can't get along with everybody. Well, you don't have to be around everybody, but the people you have to be around, just make them love you, make them respect your grind. I'm not telling you to kiss, but just do the job you're supposed to do. That's right again. Back to that old cliche. Just do your job. Just do what you're supposed to do. Everything else will take care of itself.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Yeah, I think you make a uh, you know, you you you allude to something else. Every athlete wants people to come watch them play. But if you if you're a bad, if you got a bad reputation, that kid who teachers despise, they're given detention to, they're not giving you detention on the first time, right? Like you said, but but they're gonna get frustrated. We do the same thing. That teacher did this. Well, that teacher only did that because they're so frustrated with you, that's all they can do. And when teachers are frustrated or they don't enjoy being in your presence or you being in their presence, they're not gonna come to your games. And I like we we have a big deal here where we try to get our teachers and our coaches' families and uh you know other coaches to come support other programs, and it's a big deal at Pope. It's one of the things we're best off for, but it's only because our students are fun to be around, you know. If if those students, whatever team it is, if they're no fun in class, those teachers aren't going to come watch them play, and then nobody's there to watch you play. So that's a that's a great uh, you know, it's a great uh lesson for student athletes to understand you earn the opportunity to for people to come watch you play by how you treat them. So great, great, great.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Without without a doubt.

SPEAKER_03 41:33

Yeah, that's good stuff. Now, champ, if you could send one message to every athletic director in the country about positive athlete, because as ADs, we kind of get beat over the head with people trying to pitch things to us or sell things to us. I tell everybody is uh anybody that'll listen regarding positive athlete, it is exactly what they say it is. And oh, by the way, it's free. But if you could tell every athletic director something about positive athlete, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Well, you know, I think more than anything, um, your character is what matters. You know, your leadership qualities are what matters. And that's one of the things we highlight on this platform is trying to enhance those abilities and leaning in on that. And, you know, that's why I look at it as a valuable resource because, you know, again, I can't emphasize enough how much these kids, the student athletes in particular, influence other students around campus. And when you highlight things that aren't just about the game, it really means something. And then, you know, it gives these kids more confidence. And I think more than anything, we know the mental health challenges that are presented to these ADs and coaches across the country. So definitely want to give them all the tools. I think positive athlete is one of those, but also the coaches and training them how to deal with the kids on a daily basis, giving them the tools that they need because they are the connectors to these kids. They're what's gonna drive what's important on a daily basis. So empowering the coaches is is crucial. So any any tool you can give on top of positive athlete to help them because they are the leaders, they are the ones you got to value more than anything because these kids look up to them like you know, father and mother figures. I mean, it really is like that in a lot of places. So, I mean, that's that's the thing we value on positive athlete and really try to drive home is you know what's really important in the real world.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

Yeah, there are there's several um platforms and and resources and tools within Positive Athlete that athletes and coaches can get uh without really nominating, but the the players get it when or athletes get it when they get nominated for sure. So That platform has really developed over the last decade or so. I do want to say real quick the seven positive athlete characteristics. If uh an AD or someone's listening who has no idea what positive athlete is or didn't until today, those seven characteristics that you guys promote uh with the positive athlete program are optimistic, puts the team first, encouraging, respectful, admits imperfections, true heart for others, and embraces service. So those are seven characteristics. If those resonate, then positive athletes probably something you want to look more into. But anyone across the country can nominate any student, and there's also a positive coach platform as well. There uh you can nominate a coach uh who's a positive coach. So it's a great platform. Our expectation here at Pope is every coach nominates a coach or an athlete. Uh, that's our expectation under Cobb County, where we are um as one of the leaders in um nominations every year. I can't uh like Don said, I can't highlight it and suggest it enough uh for ADs to implement. So, champ, thanks for being part of our podcast. Thanks for joining us today, making us better leaders, but also sharing with us about positive athlete. Now we do something called the two-minute drill. I know you've been on the other end of the two-minute drill most of your life, but uh let's let's get on the offensive end. Yeah, there you go. Let's uh let's get on the offensive end. We're gonna get to know Champ a little bit better here in a couple minutes.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

All right, Champ, we're gonna hit you with some rapid fire questions. You just tell us the first thing that comes to your mind.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 45:34

What was the first job you ever had ever in your life? I when you you were in high school, you probably didn't even have time for a job. But if you did, what was the first job you ever had ever?

SPEAKER_01 45:45

I worked, I was 15 and I worked for the city of Folkestone. Or I could say the town of Folkestone. And I was on the road maintenance crew. So I learned everything about digging in flower beds, you know, keeping it the town clean and as we could, you know. So mowing a lot of grass on the side of the road. It was it was intense. That was my first my first job. Not my only one, but my first one.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Well, I bet every time you drive through a town, you're thinking, man, the size of these roads get terrible.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

At least you get somebody much grass. You you have no idea. That's that's what dominated my mindset as I would go to other towns. I'm like, well, they need our crew, you know. I took a lot of pride in it. Yeah, I took a lot of pride in it. I hated it because it would get hot. You know, that first we would start about six or seven in the morning. And you know, when that sunrise in the summer, it was it was brutal. It was brutal.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

That's good. All right, who is a non-football professional athlete that you admire?

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Non-football profession that I admire. Um wow. Oh man. Good question. Uh let me think. I'm gonna say. Well, I'm gonna say Derek Jeter. And, you know, I don't think, you know, many people put Derek Jeter in their top like athletes of all time. But you could put him in your top athletes of all time, if you know what I mean. So I think he was more about his leadership and the way he approached the game and how he dealt with the media, his business, business savvy. I mean, he's just he's one of those guys, but he never was a a big stat guy. Like, I can't tell you one thing he did on the field that was, you know, crazy as far as stats. Maybe, maybe there's something out there. I can't, I just hadn't looked. All I know is he got my attention, he made an impression without being the best athlete on his team. I don't think he ever was the best on his team. Maybe he was, but I but to my knowledge, that never stuck out. So I give him a lot of credit for, you know, at least, you know, getting the attention and notoriety without ever just dominating the stats.

SPEAKER_03 48:14

That's good. Uh, what is one habit that has helped you stay elite? It could be a daily habit or just something that you typically do.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

I guess my punctuality. I like I'm I'm big about being on time. Um just the integrity in that, you know, because I I think you can show up late to things from time to time. That's life. But I'm gonna let you know I'm gonna be late. Like, I'm not gonna have you sitting there waiting 15 minutes and I didn't tell you why. And I think, you know, because I give people grace. When you show up late, that's fine. Just give me a heads up. I could be doing something else in those 15 minutes. I'm waiting for you. So, you know, it's it's just one of those respecting people's time, and you know, that that's one thing that I I haven't ever shied away from.

SPEAKER_02 49:01

Better late than never, but better never late, right?

SPEAKER_01 49:04

There you go. There you go. Y'all got something for everything.

SPEAKER_02 49:06

I love it. I heard somebody say that one time. That's not me. So, all right, the Athens tailgate food of choice. Now that you're not on the field, maybe you get to tailgate a bit.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

I don't as much as I want to, but uh anything on the grill. So whatever you're grilling, whatever you're grilling, I'm eating. So credit. It can be veggies, it can be meat. If it's on the grill, I'm eating.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

Good deal. All right, let's play uh a game of hot or not. So these are questions or statements that could be considered hot takes. So if you if you agree with it, you say hot. If you disagree with it, you say not. Okay. Okay. The seafood buffet at the Okie Fanoki restaurant is second to none. Hot.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

There you go. It's pretty good. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

All right, the current Broncos uniform uniforms are not as good as the retro version.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Oh. I like the retro. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 50:09

Competing at mile high altitude is not that big of a deal.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Not you as any team that comes there from the East Coast. They hate it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

All right, last one, hot or not. There's nothing like a Saturday night in Athens between the hedges.

SPEAKER_03 50:31

I knew what that answer was going to be. All right, we've asked every one of our guests this year um to pick a number uh from Brett Ledbetter's 365 Questions book. Okay. So pick a number between one and 365.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Uh four.

SPEAKER_03 50:49

All right. What is something society convinced you that you needed? Then when you got it, you realized you never really needed it in the first place.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

Oh man. Fancy cars. Society does a good job at thinking you need something fancy, luxurious, luxurious uh. We don't need it. We don't need it. I could go, I can go on and on about you know items like that, but fancy cars. You don't need it.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

All right, Don, I gotta add a uh a two-minute question here, and it's gonna be a real quick one. But he just he just picked a number, and I think we missed it. I didn't miss it. He picked four. So four or twenty six? What's your what did weren't you 26? I was 20.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

I was 24. 24, okay, I'm sorry. Four resonates with both numbers. Oh god, okay. So you four at Georgia.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

Okay, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_01 51:49

Yeah, yeah, I was and I was 24 in the league.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

Yeah, 24. Okay, I knew it was a 20, but you went back to your UGA number, so I was like, hey, we can't miss that. Yeah, we can't miss that.

SPEAKER_01 51:57

So look, man, let me be clear. I am a dog first. There it goes. From from from when I was five years old, the first time I knew what football was, till now, like till the day I die. That's I'm a dog first. And everybody knows this. Like, even my Broncos family, my my commander's family, they all know. Like, there's nothing above the dogs for me. It's a difference when I'm watching a Bulldog game and a pro game, or there's either one of my teams. Well, it's no more.

SPEAKER_03 52:33

If you're anything like me, you're miserable for three hours. I'm I'm like on the edge of my seat the whole time. I my wife even asked me, she goes, Why do you watch why do you do this to yourself every Saturday? I go, I would want to be nowhere else than doing this on Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 52:45

As you know, most of our games last four hours because it's so dramatic. There's just it's so much drama around our game. It's ridiculous the drama that around that's around the game. I'm I'm assuming everybody around the country feels that way. You know, it's it's dramatic to me. But yeah, those three hours, three and a half, four hours, is it's nerve-wracking. But, you know, for some reason we were finding ways to win. And I can't I can't get down about that. That that's it's amazing to see how we've been coming back lately.

unknown 53:17

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 53:18

All right, here a couple more, just talking about maybe some people. Who is a coach at any level or any sport who you did not play for that looking back you think you would have you would have enjoyed playing for?

SPEAKER_01 53:30

That I didn't play for.

SPEAKER_02 53:32

Um not asking you to pick your favorite coach, that wouldn't be fair, but let's say somebody was given to the play.

SPEAKER_01 53:39

Uh I'm gonna say Bill Coward. Okay. Um I don't know. I just I I always heard guys talk good about him, you know, his his players. And he every time we played him, man, he he he gave us hell. He his schemes were great. I mean, you just see you can just see the leadership. I don't know, man. He he's just one of the I remember my rookie year. We practiced against them in training camp. I think we were their training camp or their training camp was close to ours. I think we were in some dorm in Pennsylvania when I was with the commanders, and he he was just his presence was just different. You know, it's just the way he went about practice, how he coached his guys, how he empowered his assistant coaches. Just one of those people that, yeah, I'd love to be in that locker room with him for a year or two.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Perfect answer. All right, we're gonna finish with this once again. Uh a people question. It's our trademark question. Uh, today, Chap Bailey, you've been hanging with the ADs, but let's say you could hang out with anyone, who would that be a one?

SPEAKER_01 54:53

Hang out with anyone? Anyone uh wow, uh Michael Jordan. Oh good answer. I mean, every every time I talk to somebody who's around him, you know, or has been around him, he's just he's sort of a no-nonsense guy, straight shooter, and he's fun to be around. Talks a lot of smack. You know, I just you know, I just think it's funny, you know, and I had the pleasure of meeting him once or twice. And you know, he again, if I if I rolled up on him today, I'd be like a a little kid. You know, he's he definitely influenced me growing up, taught me how to be great. You know, it was it it would be Michael Jordan for sure.

SPEAKER_02 55:38

Now you play some basketball down there at Charlton County. Would you challenge him one-on-one?

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Uh maybe today. Right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard him last night on him talking about not playing for a while. So yeah, maybe this is a good time to catch it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:55

Said he got on the free throw line. He didn't know the last time he was that nervous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

Yeah, but one thing those guys don't forget how to do is shoot the ball. So, you know, yeah, I maybe have to make it move around a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 56:06

Understood. Champ, thank you so much for taking the time and for using your platform to pour into the next generation of leaders through Positive Athlete for taking the time to join us today. We appreciate the time.

SPEAKER_01 56:16

I appreciate you guys, and I encourage every AD coach, parent, any leader around these student athletes to go to positiveathlete.org. Nominations are open until the spring. So let's get these kids nominated so they had a chance to win scholarships and we can continue to empower them.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

Well, how about that conversation with pro football hall of famer Champ Bailey? Champ is a legend in Georgia from his high school days through uh his college playing days that we talked about at UGA and had a great NFL career, but now has taken up the mantle with positive athlete. Positive athlete is a national brand now uh that is easy for high schools to implement uh and it recognizes it is the opportunity to recognize athletes and coaches for their positivity across those seven characteristics that we mentioned. Champ uh being an ambassador with them is just gonna help them go to the even the next level. So if you're an athlete, go to positiveathlete.org right now uh or right after you finish this uh podcast and find out how easy it would be to implement this in your athletic department, get your positive athletes and positive coaches nominated. But you know, we did take the opportunity to talk leadership with champ, and you can see he is a leader, not just an ambassador. But I love what he talked about Daryl Green and uh kind of to sum that up. He he basically said he had to understand me to be able to teach me. How appropriate is that for what we do as athletic administrators and being able to teach and lead our our coaches, but also our coaches being able to teach and lead their athletes. You have to understand them before you can teach them. Darryl Green working with Champ Bailey and in pro football, and uh then he he talked about um multi-sport participation. He took a different angle on that than we do a lot of times, and I loved it. Uh playing multiple sports allows an athlete to be around other good coaches, and it also allows them to experience possibly a different role on the team. Both great life lessons because you're gonna experience different kinds of bosses, different kinds of supervisors, and these athletes who are gonna turn into adults are going to have to play different roles in different organizations. How important is it to not allow a kid to stop playing multiple sports just because they're not gonna be a starter? And being that uh role player is huge because it's going to lead to some skills and to uh some scar tissue that's gonna help them uh down the road. So I love those two components of this conversation. Champ, thanks for making us better today. We appreciate it. Great conversation, and we look forward to seeing how you're gonna take positive athlete to a different level with your ambassadorship with them. Hey, thanks for listening to our podcast. Obviously, we would love to for you to give us a rating or review to help us uh get to other people across the country, whether it's leaders uh outside of athletic administration or inside of our industry. And as always, thanks for hanging with the ADs today.