Stories Inside the Man Cave
Stories Inside the Man Cave
Ep 451: A conversation with Mack Brown
Mack Brown shares his insights on coaching, mentorship, and the impact of personal loss in the lives of players. The discussion includes reflections on mental health, player recruitment, and the importance of building strong relationships beyond the football field.
• Importance of nurturing players into responsible adults
• Heartfelt stories about the loss of former players
• Emphasis on mental health support for athletes
• Changing dynamics in college football with NIL and the transfer portal
• Integrity and honesty as vital in the recruiting process
• The rewarding aspects of mentorship throughout a coaching career
• Gratitude and self-care as foundational for well-being
Please like and follow each of Stories Inside the Man Cave Podcast social media links on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok.
Today is going to be an exciting day at the Hargrove office as we bring in a local celebrity. Welcome the kicking phenom, Bert Auburn. Conference champion of the Texas Longhorn football team, all-conference kicker. He's going to be our new spokesman. Bert's the best kicker in the conference. He plays for the Texas Longhorns, as you can see. You know Bert's f***ing awesome. Hey, Stevie.
Speaker 3:Dude, you're really replacing me with a kicker.
Speaker 2:No, hey, Stevie Boo, you're really replacing me with a kicker. No, not at all man. Hey guys, who wants a picture with Stevie? Anyone? Stevie almost won a Big 12 championship, Hargrove Roofing. Know who's on your roof.
Speaker 1:But we do love you very much. And last thing and I said this at the first of the week I don't want this to be the best thing that's ever happened in your life. When you're 54, I don't want you to say winning a football game is the best thing that ever happened in my life. You'll have it and you'll be a champion for the rest of your life. You make sure that's one of the best sports things in your life. But you promise me, if you've got enough about you to win a national championship, you've got enough about you to be a great citizen and a great role model, a great father and a great leader in your family, and that's what we're looking for when you get out of here.
Speaker 4:That's your college head football coach, d Matt Brown, one of the most highly respected coaches. That is part of the coaching fraternity. When you see that speech, I know it was one year after your final season as a Longhorn, but you've got to have chills when you hear him deliver that message because coaching for him was far greater than just football. Yeah, man it was.
Speaker 3:I remember that my wife and I was watching it all together and I remember us watching that later, seeing that part later, and my wife has a really a lot of respect for coach Brown and she saw that and she was like that's just who he is.
Speaker 4:I am Sean Clinch, the co-host, along with the Stevie Lee, and we have a 15 year old cat who jumped up here. Well, you know, you didn't see her. Hey, if you didn't see it it didn't happen. But we're going to laugh, we're gonna be uh, educated on things, we may cry a little bit and we're gonna learn a lot.
Speaker 4:and, stevie lee, I know this is special for you it is and, and I want to tell you what, before we get into it, be sure to follow us on each of our social media platforms. All of them, I can't keep up with them. There's so many. But, stevie, enough with you and I talking about it. You ready? That's right. That's right. All right, guys, before we bring in the Hall of Famer himself, we definitely want to give a shout-out to Hardgrove Roofing and each of our sponsors of Stories Inside the man Cave podcast. And you know, stevie, they did, they were smart, not only because you're from Shreveport, but you have that voice, that face, and you deliver their marketing phrase like no other.
Speaker 3:Hargrove Roofing Know who's on your roof.
Speaker 4:That's right. They were on a couple of roofs, people I've known. They did quality work and they literally knew them. They came down and introduced themselves very professional and solid work. And there is Coach Brown as we adjust our screens here. Coach Brown, were you entertained at all by us trying to be serious talking about you?
Speaker 5:No, not at all. It's one thing you learn in this business is it's really all about relationships at the end, 100%. When Coach Royal got dementia and he was in a home, I'd go see him about every day and he didn't remember that he was won three national championships. Last time he was in the stadium he asked where we were. He didn't even know the stadium was named after him. We were playing Wyoming. He was the honorary coach. He said coach, who's playing? I said coach, it's Texas. And Wyoming. He said which one's Texas.
Speaker 5:They knew nothing, but every ex-player that walked in his room he knew their name that tells me that when you get through coaching, what you, what you have is relationships, whether it's shown with you, the media, whether it's the friendships you make or the lifetime that you you have with your players and ex players. And then you add summer Um, I mean, she's family too and she's a cheerleader. But we, what you get as a coach for 37 years, as a head coach and I think 12 is an assistant. You have family members, yep, and we want to see their children and we want to see them. We want to see them smile and we want to see their children and we want to see them. We want to see them smile and we want to make sure they're okay. And what you get out of coaching is that you might have had a small piece of that, trying to help them be a great father and husband and have a wonderful life. And that's what you really get as a coach and that's what Stevie means to us.
Speaker 3:I really, really appreciate you saying that. Coach, you know back and we'll get into this a little bit later, but I got to say this. You know, back when we lost Cole Pittman at the University of Texas, I knew, I always knew that Coach Brown cared, and actually Miss Sally cared a great deal in the whole recruiting process. That's why I came here. But the other thing was when all that happened, you know back, nowadays, you know, no one's afraid of the NCAA, but back then they were pretty powerful and they would slap your hand. They would, you know, send out sanctions and fines and things like that. So no one really messed with the NCAA.
Speaker 3:But when we needed Coach Brown, coach didn't care right. He was like come to my house if you need to Bring your girlfriend, who's now my wife, and if you need anything, come and holler at us, let me know. Because we were all grieving and we were grieving together and he wanted us to be, not to be, alone and wanted us to be with with him. And I get home to my apartment and my girlfriend's there summer. And you know I said coach was like you know, if we wanted to come to his house, he didn't care about NCAA rules or anything like that. He just wanted, you know, wanted us to have a place to go. We didn't take you up on that offer, but it was good to have it.
Speaker 3:And then the other thing is I wanted to get home to my family. Cole and his family were friends of ours. My family and I just wanted to get home. So Coach Brown put me and Phillip on the Purple Pride. The Purple Pride is Red McComomb's airplane and I was like I'm looking around. I was like I want to own an NFL football team, you know. And so it didn't matter the rules of the NCAA, because he wanted to take care of his kids. His kids meaning us players.
Speaker 5:I remember Stevie went when DeLoss died. I said what can we do to help the mental health of our team, because they're struggling and it's hard to lose anybody. You don't want to lose a 21-year-old and you don't want to lose a friend At your age. You sure aren't in a position where you're ready for this. In coaching there's no manual that talks about losing a player. So DeLoss said we're going to take care of these players. We're going to fly them to the funeral whoever wants to go. And he said I don't care. We obviously always would go by NCAA rules. We do everything right. But he said for the mental health of this football team and these players, you do whatever you need to do to make sure they're okay and they're safe. And it's um, um, I remember it like it was yesterday Yep, you know you, that doesn't go away.
Speaker 5:And and the Pittman's, judy and Mark and and chase, the, the brother, and um, I mean I just for you out there that have lost a child. God bless you, man. I just I can't imagine and it was funny. Mark Pittman said people come up and say I know how you feel and he said you really don't unless you've lost a child. Well, coach Royal lost two children and he walked up to Mark and here here's two big men and they start crying, because Coach Royal said Mark, I do know how you feel, man, I do know how you feel I lost two, yeah, and people shouldn't have to go through with that. So just, and I remember Mark saying and I know we'll talk about that later that when you lose a child, at least let's learn from it, let's make it good for something, because none of us, we were all just devastated. Yeah.
Speaker 5:And the young man we had at North Carolina this year died after two and a half years of cancer. Cole was a phone call one morning the day before we're starting spring practice and we're all like, wow, yeah, didn't even get to say goodbye. So a lot of life's lessons through, through this for many years.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and that's part, unfortunately, you know, I think coaches a lot of people who have never played a sport or at any level. Coaches are much more than that and you definitely are an example of father figure figuring out ways to turn people's lives around. It's not just a scholarship, it's mentoring. There's so many hats you wear and your staff and you have changed lives, and I was doing some research trying to figure out some of some former players of yours and I I just stumbled upon there was a story I want to say it was out of the kansas city newspaper, talking about just that how many lives you had changed, and I think that was. It was in 2009 when that was written and it made me think of my high school coaches. If it weren't for them, when, after my dad passed, there's no I don't think I'd be who I am today. I probably would have become somebody undesirable or had a lot of tough luck. And, coach, thank you for what you did for so long out of.
Speaker 5:Tough luck, and, coach, thank you for what you did for so long. Well, thank you, sean. It's interesting that you, uh we, we started a little slogan that it's not a four-year decision, it's 40. Yeah, so if you're gonna do this, we're gonna do it for a lifetime.
Speaker 5:So don't, don't come, unless you want us to be hang around, because you're not getting rid of us and even now, with the transfer portal and some kids transferring, we've said if it's best for you to transfer and you can't play here, but you want to go somewhere else, we're still in, don't worry about it. We'll help you any way we can and we've always thought that you'd like to enhance lives and, in some cases, save lives. We were in the mountains of North Carolina when we first went to North Carolina in 2019. One of our best friends had a son kill himself. It was suicide. He shot himself. So Sally and I were scared. We ran right back to our team. We didn't know him that well and we're trying to get to know them. And we said, listen, suicide's tough. And we're trying to get to know them. And we said, listen, suicide's tough. And I know it's selfish because, friends, I just saw it, I just went through it it hurts friends, it hurts parents. So if you're struggling I'm not a psychiatrist, I don't know how to handle this or what to say, but I do know if you're struggling, let's get you to somebody who knows how to help you and do it.
Speaker 5:And there's a young man that came upstairs right after that and said Coach, I was on a bridge last night. He said you just got my attention. His name is Jake Lawler. It's been an ESPN story, so he doesn't mind me using his name. He said I'm really struggling, I need help. Now he's a screenwriter for Disney and doing really, really well. I constantly tell coaches be careful what you say, because somebody's listening, yep. And now all the older guys that come back and tell me remember what you said when I was a sophomore. Remember when you came to that funeral when my mother was sick and Coach, that changed my life, when my mother was sick and Coach, that changed my life. And so you've got to be really, really careful with these young guys. When you tell them something, that you mean it and that you follow up.
Speaker 4:Yep, yeah, that is so true, especially right now. I hate to use the term epidemic, but mental health has reached that level in this country and there's not enough solutions, there's not enough resources. But sports coaches, male and female, play big roles in reversing those lives and those are great examples that coach Brown mentioned. Stevie, I know I pulled this up and I know coach Brown is proud, but of those accomplishments and I know Texas fans looking at that record versus those rivals, they're happy about that. But I got to ask Coach, you kind of created the transfer portal before it was even a thought playing running back at both Vanderbilt and FSU.
Speaker 5:Well I did. It was really interesting. The coaches, atanderbilt, lied to me about my brother. Oh no, and I was, uh, I was a starting tailback as a sophomore and my brother was a great quarterback, watson, a year and a half older than myself, and he hurt his knee and they said we're going to move him to wide receiver. Why don't you go tell him which? They shouldn't have done that anyway. They should have told him. And he's in the hospital. So I go, said listen, the coaches told me to come and tell you. And he yells at me and says what do you mean? And then they went over and told him that's not true. We didn't tell mac that. So I said I'm not going to stay, for anybody that's not going to tell me the truth so as a sophomore.
Speaker 5:I walked in as a start and tailback I said guys, and they said well, we just you just misunderstood us. I said no, no, no, no. I, you told me to do it, I did it and you lied and you told my brother. So I went to my brother and I he said he jumped me and said they said they didn't say that. I said, well, they're liars and I'm not going to play for a liar. So sorry you feel that way but you need to protect yourself. Because he couldn't leave. He was hurt and I said Steve Sloan was a tremendous role model for me and mentor.
Speaker 5:He was the offensive coordinator at Florida State. So I left and went to Florida State. I worked construction for about three or four months and found out I didn't want to do that for sure. And then I went to Florida State and hurt my knee there and ended up starting my coaching career there. So it was a great change for me. But I do think now with the transfer portal and the combination of NIL and the transfer portal, there's been a collision of those two and there's a lot of tampering going on. So I think it's good that Joe Burrow can transfer and be a third team quarterback at Ohio State or win a national championship in the Heisman at LSU. It was good I could transfer. If I no longer trusted those coaches, then I needed to have another option. So there are good things.
Speaker 5:I don't think kids should be transferring four or five times. It gets out of hand and then you put yourself to a position where if you transfer once, it goes down to about 63% chance to graduate. You transfer four times, five times, you're not going to graduate because those hours aren't going to keep transferring. Then that NIL money you got up front isn't going to be any good when you can't get a job when you get out. And that's where I'm worried about the mental health. We're going to have a lot of players that had $100,000, had $150,000, thought they had the world and then that money's gone when they finish school and they're not going to have a degree and they're going to be lost. And that's where we really need to start looking at mental health. So I wish you could keep guys at a place a couple of years, because freshmen will leave fast and they may not even know yet who the coaches are or a coaching change. But I just don't like seeing people transfer four or five times.
Speaker 4:I just don't think that's healthy you know we'll get into that more, because I love listening to Coach, because there's a lot more that he can unbundle. Stevie, we, you know we still got a few years before we retire and I know that you spend a lot of time a lot more time than I have with Coach Brown. Is there anything that you want to ask him about what the retired life looks like right now? I know it's early, I know it's early.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, coach moves around a lot, so I don't really know if he's really retired. He's probably not coaching right now, but he ain't retired, I promise you that so what is next for you?
Speaker 5:coach what are?
Speaker 3:you, what are you uh back in austin doing and what's next for you?
Speaker 5:and uh, miss sally well, I call it rewiring, not retiring. It sounds sounds old, so I'm not gonna do that. Uh, what we're? We're so excited, stevie, about the next chapter for Sally and I, where I'm 73, I'll be 74 in August. I remember when I came back here, coach Rowe was 72 and I thought he was old.
Speaker 5:So I gotta I gotta make sure that I stay in shape and keep my energy and and we've got two grandkids here and two in Charlottesville, virginia, and two in LA, so we're going to spend a lot of time with them. I'm working on doing a podcast, just looking at who with and what we're going to do on a national scene. I did TV before. I'm going to look at that. But, like Sean we were discussing earlier, I want to make sure that I can be me in the modern scene and not be asked to do things that are not in my personality and still be good for them. I've got that. So I really think that's what I'm going to do, and I'm going to try to play golf every day that my body will let me, and it's bad golf, but that's okay. I can do it on days where the fish are biting. I don't like to fish, I like to catch, so I'll be out there trying to catch fish.
Speaker 5:But Sally and I we've worked really hard and we're still going to work to help people. We've got our charity MJ&M in town that's helped so many young people to be empowered. So we've got a lot of things we want to do, but we're sure looking forward to it. And since coaching is so different now than what I signed up for many years ago, I think it was best in time for me to go do something else, because it's just different. It's just different. It's not bad. I'm glad the players are getting paid. I got $15 a month and I was excited about it when I got it. But right now we've got to have some guidelines and we've got less guidelines than the NFL and we're definitely a minor league football sport right now. So it's not healthy for the guys either, but I'm just excited about trying to help people, stevie and move forward.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was going to ask you a question about recruiting. I know that you've had some really really good classes at the University of Texas that came through. But what you said earlier about your coaches at Vandy, I think that shaped you as how you recruit kids right. As a lot of people might know or may not know, I was really highly recruited coming out of Shreveport, out of Evangel in Shreveport, and I could have gone to any school I wanted to. You know, I went to Georgia with Jim Donnan was the head coach and I went to Miami when Butch Davis was the head coach and they all told me, they looked at me when I got on campus, my official visit, and they said oh man, you'll start right away. You'll start right away.
Speaker 3:Rc told me that. At A&M Houston, nut told me that. At Arkansas, jerry DiNardo told me that at LSU, every single coach that I talked to said that to me. I came to Austin, came with Mr pittman. I met with coach brown and he said if you work hard, you have a position here. And and I'm looking around like who do? He not know who I am, but but I'm joking. But that was the first time that someone I felt was really genuine with me. You can't go and tell a snotty-nosed teenager from high school that they're going to start on their team.
Speaker 3:I knew that what Coach Brown said you're going to get with Mad Dog and if you work hard you can earn your position here. That's all I needed to hear was earning my position, because I didn't want anything given to me. You earn it right and so that's why I came to the University of Texas, because my coach was honest to me and honest with me and it feels like you wanted to be honest with these kids because the people at Vandy lied to you. It's all like that full circle moment for me. But tell me, how did you become so talented in recruiting kids?
Speaker 5:I think because of the experiences I had as a player. Yeah, I didn't want to transfer, so I wanted to make sure that the guys that came to Texas when we were here fit. And a lot of times the assistant coaches might not understand that, but I knew who fit here. Who can handle a classroom Texas is hard so who can handle that pressure, pass, get a degree and still handle the pressure of playing on the field. Who can handle competing for a job Because we had a lot of good players. You know we were three deep and good players.
Speaker 5:So I think the biggest thing I learned, stevie, is I never wanted to talk somebody into coming. I wanted to tell them exactly what it was going to be like and then if they didn't like it, they were going to leave anyway. So I wanted them to convince me. So I would sit and Sean and ask somebody like Stevie, why would you come? Why wouldn't you go to LSU? You're from Shreveport, so I would want to know why he wanted to come. Instead of me trying to convince him, I would ask a mom mom, you're from North Carolina, we're in Texas. That's a long way away. Are you concerned about distance? And if she said yes I'd, I'd say, well, he's not coming, but I'd always say we can't get closer, we're not moving. So, guys, we're wasting our time and and I think the the most important thing was just being direct and honest. And a lot of times, assistant coaches, too, have trouble asking the hard questions because they don't want to hear the answers. Yeah.
Speaker 5:I wanted Stevie to tell me he wasn't coming. If he wasn't coming because I had to go get somebody else. So I wanted to feel like I was him and I was in his brain. And if I was him, why would I come to Texas? And if I could convince myself he should come here, it's a whole lot easier for me to to talk to him about coming here than if I'm sitting here saying, if I, stevie, I wouldn't come here. And here are the reasons why I wouldn't come here. And I'd tell the coaches that they'd say Stevie's gonna come. I'd say no, he's not. Here's the reason he's not. And I wouldn't either if I was smart. He's going to see this. Let's sit here and start trying to act like he's dumb, and we're going to talk him into coming. And that's why we had very few people leave too.
Speaker 3:That's great. I think I need to take that whole philosophy and put it into my job. And you know, they're not going to choose this house because I wouldn't choose this house. Then they're not going to choose this house because I wouldn't choose this house.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's good. Tell them why and then they'll find one for you. Sally always said Sally sold a lot of houses and she's always said I want somebody to buy the house that loves it. I want somebody that's going to enjoy living here. I don't want somebody coming in and me having to convince them to buy my house. That's not my job. My job is to show them what I think they're going to like, but my job is not to convince them to like something that's not best for them.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and that's being very realistic For those of you who obviously know who Matt Brown is. But think about his four decades of experiences, or more than that. He was an offensive coordinator for Barry Switzer in 84 at Oklahoma, several places, and he saw a lot of programs which he had to learn, what he learned from as a player to how to recruit. And when he got to Texas, I mean he did a phenomenal job. His first time at North Carolina they caught up to Florida State came to Texas.
Speaker 4:It was in a very weird place and I'll never forget Coach Brown saying this. You know, because Texas is very unique, because you have so many voices and he said the BBs were scattered, you had to put them all back in the box, which is true and it's a cycle. So when you arrive in late I think oh, no, no is oh or no 97, I want to say a lot of people forget this. Obviously, keeping Ricky was huge, but those group of young men from Texas City I thought they would you guys agree that those were they all played significant roles in getting that momentum going for your program.
Speaker 5:Yes, ricky was definitely the biggest recruit because he sold season tickets, he got people excited, he gave us something to build around because we were really bad on defense and we've been pretty good on offense, but we couldn't stop anybody. So the Heisman became a rallying cry for the whole team and that team has a Heisman on their rings, everyone up because we got permission to put it on there, because we started saying this isn't an individual award, this is a team award and if we don't win he's not going to get it. So that was really important. And then we, you know, we had nothing really.
Speaker 5:We were coming off a four and seven season and the Texas city guys, everybody thought they'd go to a&m and that's where they were supposed to go. And then when they came, uh, and then all of them played um it. It sent a message, I think, to the high school coaches in texas that you, you better go look because they're they're for real. And and then we, we tried to recruit the state of Texas and then significant players that could get here easily, like Stevie and Phillip and Cole and Chase, coming out of Shreveport and especially in really good academic schools. Again, you've got to pick the right people for your school and Texas was a hard academic school Nobody talked about it but it was and we could get people in on NCAA regulations, but it didn't do us any good if they couldn't stay in. So we had to figure out who was smart enough to come here and handle it, and that was on us to do that.
Speaker 5:And then you try to just look, we got some guys out of Denver because they had ties to us and the, both gays, and you, you Casey, stuttered because we would go to Denver to get somebody like that, the sin lines, and then the sin lines out of Scottsdale. So you, you just looking at direct flights with people who had ties to the university and then the state of Texas, and that's what we tried to do is supplement it. And I would tell guys like Stevie, we don't go out of state unless you're really good, because we don't have to. Yep.
Speaker 5:So if we're coming to Shreveport, we cross that state border. Man, You're good and that's true.
Speaker 4:And Baton Rouge, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:If we can find you in our state, why would we come out of state to get you? So you got to be better than the guys in our state or we wouldn't go.
Speaker 3:And that's just facts, yeah, I learned that when I got here At the university of texas. Uh, you know you're competing with a and m for the talent in the state, but to be successful in at the university of texas, you really got to build a wall around texas and keep these guys here and um, and I think that you guys did a really good job. Your whole staff did that all throughout all the years. Um, we also talked about um. Uh, on another show that I do. Uh, we talked about how you retained um coaches here at the university of texas. Like you, a lot of your coaches did not leave here, you know. So that's that's a testament to you as well, to to get really good coaches here and keep really good coaches here.
Speaker 5:Thank you, Stevie. It sounds a little bit hokey, but we wanted the whole thing to be a family atmosphere.
Speaker 3:And it was.
Speaker 5:Everybody grew up in their family. They liked their family. So we wanted the wives around. We wanted the coaches to have some time to go see their kids. If one of the coaches had a son playing like if Coach Akina had a son playing we'd let him go go watch your son, because coaches don't get to do that enough.
Speaker 5:So it was really really important to us that everybody felt like that we did care, because we did, and we wanted everybody to have a wonderful life and still be able to win football games, Because if you don't win you don't get to stay and then you can't do any of this. That's just a fact in college sports. But we also felt like that too many people didn't enjoy it. We had fun. I like Stevie Lee. He's fun for me. When I see him I smile, and Sally feels the same way, and the same with Summer and her children, and that's the way we are with all of our players. We can't wait to have a gathering and get everybody together again as soon as we get settled here, and Ricky Brown's working on that as we speak.
Speaker 3:I think that's a story in itself the camaraderie and family atmosphere at the University of Texas and back then it was across all sports. Some of my best friends are swimmers in the soccer team and softball and basketball that I still talk to today. Texas athletics was a family as a whole, so I really wish that we can get back to that. It's going to be harder with these portals open up like they are, but if you are a Longhorn at the University of Texas, you are family for life, no matter who you are. When you have your T-ring I don't have it on right now, but it's in there.
Speaker 5:It is Stevie and I helped recruiting and all the other sports. That was really important to us. They wanted to bring them to the football games, wanted to put them on the sidelines, and the Jordan Spieths and Scotty Schefflers and there are so many guys that Coach Fields would bring in and of course we loved Augie in baseball and Rick Barnes was a dear friend and I'm still very good friends with Jared Elliott and Eddie Reese and Angie in soccer, and so there's, you can make that work for everybody and we did have it and it was fun to know the names of the other players and go see the other sports play and and enjoy them if you can't enjoy watching kevin durant play.
Speaker 5:There's something wrong with it right.
Speaker 3:Every time we see, uh, jody conrad, uh, we light up, and a lot of times she's with chris polonsky and we, we all just light up and we catch up like we never left off, you know. So it is a family.
Speaker 4:Coach, I was going to tell you, you know, we talked about the Shreveport pipeline. There were quite a few players, not only great players but good people, and I heard you recently and through others you know, our friend, jimmy Saxton, former Texas quarterback legacy at Texas. We were talking about you and Steve and I. We had the same conversation and this is going to hit it home for you, stevie, because you and I have talked about Cole Pittman a lot and had his dad on. But, coach, you said something that, of all the success you've had, the lives you have helped change in a positive way. I hate to say this but it sucks, because real life is hard and losing children should never, never, never happen to a parent or to a coach or to a mentor. But you say the two defining moments in your coaching career unfortunately Cole Pittman, and then, at North Carolina, ty Lee. When you say defining moments, how are people supposed to interpret that?
Speaker 5:Well, I pray every night for all the players that have played for Sally and I and hope that they're safe. We pray that they're safe and we pray that our family's safe. And I also throw a little bit more on God and say and help them be happy too, if you can, if we. Just if it's an overload where I got it, they can be happy, but I need them healthy. And you learn so much from losing coal and it hurts so bad, it never goes away. I think about it all the time. I talk to Mark still all the time.
Speaker 5:And Ty Lee we had for two and a half years. He had stayed for cancer and we thought he was getting better and then he would pick it up. He'd be at every meeting and he's out there at practice and he's out there right after chemotherapy. He's throwing up and I'd say, why don't you go back to your apartment? He'd say no, I need to be here, coach, I need to be with these players, my teammates. I said I got it and then he'd say how are you? Are you okay? And I thought, come on, man, I am good.
Speaker 5:But when you think about coal we lost over a morning, think about coal, we lost over a morning. I mean I go to the office, get a call and they tell me there's a body. They don't have identification. They've got a cotton bowl ring that's got coal pitman's name on it. Could I send a picture? And we had to identify the picture to know that it was him. And then they wanted me to call Mark and Judy and they wanted me to tell them that they had lost their son. And they said and you can't say he died, you've got to say they lost him and make sure that the minister's there make sure the high school coach is there, because that's a very difficult thing to handle. So I picked up the phone that morning and I called before anybody knew it and I said to Mark Mark, we've lost Cole. He said wait, what do you mean? Did he get lost? I said no, but he's not here. He said what do you mean? He's not here. So I had to say Mark, he had a crash and he's gone. And then it was very difficult Then Mark, then I had to go meet with a team and trying to know. Stevie and Phillip were so close to Cole and guys like Chance Mock, they were all so close that you have counselors there.
Speaker 5:And what do you do? How do you tell a team You're supposed to start spring practice the next day, he's 21. He's going to get to play and now he's gone. And I I mean so it was a shocker, unlike ty lee, who we watched die over two and a half years. And then, with ty lee, we watched him. We watched him and all of a sudden then he, he went to a cane and then he went to a wheelchair and he went to hospice during the season and it was over a three or four week period. So we had to tell the players listen, you need to tell Tylee goodbye. He's got ten days to two weeks, so you need to go see him and you gotta tell him. And then we're playing Georgia Tech and it's Friday night.
Speaker 5:Before the game at one o'clock, I get a call that says Tylee may not make it. So then what do you do? Do you cancel the game? Do you tell the team? And can they play with mental health, knowing that they lost a teammate? What if he dies at 11 o'clock in the games at noon? What happens? So I really think between God and his mom and Tylee.
Speaker 5:He stayed alive until the second quarter and we lost him during the second quarter. Well, we had to keep all of our players off of social media, and mom kept it off social media. But after the game I'm walking up and wife Sally says come here, so we lose to Georgia Tech on the last play of the game on a 68 yard run. And I'm walking off the field and Sally says come here, listen, we lost Talib and mom wants you to tell the team, and then she wants you to tell the media, and then she wants you to come see the family. So you walk in and how do you tell the team hey, the game was awful, sorry, man, it's been a tough run here. We lost on the last play of the game. And oh, by the way, you lost a teammate. He's gone. And then you go tell the media the same thing, Then go visit with the family.
Speaker 5:So what I've learned through all this and I know we talk about gratitude, so what I've learned is that we don't know how long we've got. I mean, cole was a phone call and I didn't get to tell him goodbye. And I've learned you better tell people everything you want to tell them, because you don't know if you're ever going to see them again, yep, so that's really important. So you don't know how long you've got, but you do know that you, you are responsible for handling whatever happens to you, uh, and your family, because you can't control it either. So we can't gripe about it. We got to fix it. You got to take negatives and turn them into positives, and that's what husbands and fathers do, and that's really, really important. And the other thing is is it better to lose somebody overnight or over two and a half years? Losing somebody is losing somebody. You don't go back. We had to watch him be sick, but we got to tell him goodbye, cole. We didn't get to tell him goodbye.
Speaker 5:Now what's happened is Mark is using Raising Cole the book to help people that are in similar situations. He's using the movie that's coming up soon to help people, and Mark's a giver soon to help people. And Mark's a giver and he wants to have a purpose in Cole's life. And he said he prayed over that casket and said I'm going to make sure that your legacy helps other people. And Mark has done that better than anybody. Tali's mom's the same. He got the Orange Bowl Award this year for being such a special person and handling his sickness so well. So I think the biggest thing is that winning ballgames is one thing, but we all have to remember we're dealing with human beings here. Yeah.
Speaker 5:And we're dealing with somebody's children and I told our players, I told our coaches and I've always told them this you treat your player like you would want your son to be treated and if they're cussing him or grabbing him, I'd say whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you want me to do that to your son. And they'd stop real quick Because you can coach somebody hard and you can encourage people, you can get people to do things and follow you and you can lead without cussing them or grabbing them, and I don't want anybody cussing, grabbing me. If they do, it's going to be a problem it's going to be a problem.
Speaker 5:I'm not going to put up with it. So why in the world would I want somebody to cuss or grab my son if I wouldn't want to happen to me?
Speaker 3:absolutely.
Speaker 4:Absolutely Walk and talk. Yeah, I love it. That's great points. This movie it's in its infant stages.
Speaker 4:Both Coach and Stevie are part of the team of gathering info interviews. I know you guys have had a ton of meetings as far as and Jimmy Saxon as well. There's so many people involved Before I, for Stevie, both you and Coach talk about what you guys know about the movie so far. Jim Saxton wanted me to pass along his email address to those of you watching or listening to this episode, because you, if you have an interest and a love and passion in Texas Longhorn athletics, football or this story, because Coach said it best, mark Pittman wrote this book, for it's about a father's love for his children, specifically Cole. He's still mourning it to this day and I think parents always do when this happens, as they should. But here's Jimmy Saxton's email sjsax10 at gmailcom. If you would like to learn how you can become an investor into this movie and support it, and there's typical investor opportunities to receive a return on that and I'll start with you, stevie. Then, coach, you talk about what you guys know or can talk about as far as the production of this movie.
Speaker 3:Well, a couple of weeks ago it was about a month ago, coach that uh, we all got in the room, together with the uh producers and and uh and some other players. That was close with uh, with with cole. One of the things that we came out of the movie, or out of that meeting with, one of the things I came out of the meeting was is we wanted to be authentic. Chase Cole, cole's brother, chase, was there in the room and I got him to the side and I told him. I said you know, chase, I don't do anything with Cole's name on it if it's not sanctioned by you guys. And I said if you smell or see or feel anything funny, you tell me and I'll speak up for you. Chase is like my little brother, you know, so I want to protect him in all this as well.
Speaker 3:So but in that whole meeting, man and everyone was doing stories and telling stories and talking, talking some some fun things that we've done in college and in high school, when Cole and I were in high school and Chase, we were just talking and having a good time. If a tenth of those stories come out through this movie, it's going to be a great movie. It's really going to be a great movie. I'm really excited about it. I can't wait to get with them to give some more stories and things like that. But I've seen some of the work that these producers have and writers have already done and it's pretty cool. It's pretty neat. So I'm happy to have those guys on board for this movie.
Speaker 4:Coach, it's less about football, correct? The angle of this movie, is that correct?
Speaker 5:Yes, it's more about a father and his son and the love for his son and, really and truly, the college athlete, the prime of his life. Everything's perfect and one day it's taken away, and how do you handle it? And, and Mark's been a superstar for helping others and there's so many people that have sad stories Right, and, and I think this is to to celebrate the life of those who are gone, and that's why I can't, I can't wait to see it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I can't either. I'm looking forward to it and I think it's a unique opportunity that Jimmy said that people can get on board. I mean, I know this sounds like a lot, but as far as this investment 10 grand to get in and invest, to be a part in your support, because he called it Jimmy said he woke up one day and went to church on a Sunday and he said he felt like God was speaking to him. He says I've got to pour myself into this project and I think he's. What is he the co-producer, jimmy?
Speaker 3:Sattler. I don't know his job title, but he helped put everything together so he can be co-producer. I don't know his job title, but he helped put everything together so he can be co-producer for me.
Speaker 4:He went from playing a quarterback to selling insurance to producing movies, but everyone involved has a great story and very talented and is going to do it great. Stevie Coach mentioned you and your recruitment, but I think something what really happened to you happens to a lot of student athletes and injuries can really affect an individual up here. How did you and coach and the staff cause you had a foot injury while you were a long horn and was it lingering? And how did you? How did you overcome that team with you and coach trying to get you back on the field?
Speaker 5:Stevie. I thought this would be important because in my 36 years, people don't understand. When somebody's hurt, they say, oh, he stays hurt all the time. No, no, no. It's really hard. You lose part of your identity, you lose who you are. Your coach doesn't have enough time to spend with you because he's spending with other guys and you you feel like they don't care. So I I think it. It's great for young athletes to hear how you would handle it if you were them. And and because you you did it, you made it work and you came back. A lot of people don't.
Speaker 3:They just give up and and it doesn't end well yeah, I uh, I broke my fifth metal torso on my left foot. Um, you know, I was just working out and just felt something, just this off, and they told me it was a stress fracture. Because I was working out, working hard, yeah, I wanted to see the field, you know, and so, um, I break that foot, um, get into a boot for like half a year. And that first practice spring practice we used to do a field goal block in the beginning of practice and that first day back in pads after my first injury, that first practice, I push off to get pushed so Tyrone can go and jump and try to block the field goal. And I could feel it. My foot then popped. I could feel it. I felt it After a long rehab.
Speaker 3:After a long rehab, re-injured it. The very first play, pushing off, yeah, and so I went back into surgery. They unscrewed a screw and put a bigger screw in there. And that screw is still in my foot. It's been perfect ever since. I only feel it when the weather changes.
Speaker 4:So I'm all good now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I'm all good now. But when we talk about mental health, it started to weigh on me and, coach, I'm sorry, I'm going to give you your flowers right now again, because one day I was really down on myself. I was in the training room, I stayed in the training room trying to get this thing right, and I go upstairs and I was like man, I don't want Coach to give up on me. And I was walking up the stairs with my crutches and you were leaving out of your office, coach. I doubt you even remember this. You were leaving out of your office, coach. I doubt you even remember this.
Speaker 3:You were leaving out of your office and I was like, oh, I'm sorry, coach, I was going to come to your office, but I'll come to talk to you tomorrow. You said you dropped everything. You said no, no, no, come on back, let's go. You were about to go home, coach. You were about to, and I know Sally was waiting on you, so you were about to go home and you said no, no, no, no. Whenever you need to talk to me, come on, come on back.
Speaker 3:And you got me back to your office and I said, coach, I'm not going to be one of those players that's always hurt. I'm really trying to get back. And you said you cut me off and said Stevie, don't worry about that, you just get right. You just keep doing what you're doing. Get in the training room, get with Tom, get with Alan and just get yourself back right. And we know that you're working and we know that you're going to be back and that right there meant the world to me, that the guy that got me here and I'm, almost a year and a half being hurt, still believing in me. So that's again. I'm giving you your flowers right now. I don't know if you remember that story or remember that, or I don't expect you to remember that, but it played a big part in my getting back onto the field to play again, because I was really down. I was like I came here to go to school and play football.
Speaker 5:I remember it like it was yesterday because I was hurt. I had knee operations. I went through that mental health stuff that I knew you were going through. The other thing Sally wanted you back on the field. She wasn't worried about what time I got home. If I told her I was talking to Stevie she'd say, good, is he doing better?
Speaker 2:When you win you win.
Speaker 5:That girl wants to win.
Speaker 3:I'm sure she does Well. Thank you for that, coach for sure.
Speaker 4:You need to thank Sally too, yeah absolutely no question.
Speaker 4:Coach, you mentioned it earlier. We all all three of us and everyone watching this episode college sports, in particular college football, I want to say, over the last three to five years, has evolved at a pace that I can't keep up with. I'm all for NIL and the portal for what it was intended to be originally, and I'm all for student athletes to be compensated and have the opportunity to find their home. But now you have those three what they are, and I'm not criticizing kids making money. Now you add, now going up to 105 scholarships. What's your thoughts on that? Has all of that I think all of it played a role in your decision, because Nick Saban has gone on the record about it and you both are from that same generation. It's not to me, it's not generational, it's just what all three of us can relate to. I mean, how do you sum this up with all these changes, and is it a, is it a formula for college football to succeed at this pace?
Speaker 5:yeah, right now, sean, it's not a sustainable formula in my opinion. I don't like the fact that we will no longer have walk-ons. Some of the guys that walked on are best friends of mine. They're givers to the university. They had wonderful lives and maybe they weren't as good as the Stevies in the world, but, man, they'd fight their guts out and get on a special team From Michael Ungard. You just go, you check names off and we're losing that now, and I hate that.
Speaker 5:We had 120 people on our team. Fifteen of them are going to be cut and I thought at least they should be grandfathered in and that's all Title IX. And it's not 105 scholarships anymore, sean, it's opportunities. So you can still have 85 on scholarship, but you can't have more than 105 on your team, so you may not have enough money to have 105 on scholarship. So they call them opportunities. And that's where it gets in with Title IX, because there's always been more football players than there are women's softball players, so there wasn't a comparable sport. So Title IX was always an issue for football. That's why they limited us to 120 players.
Speaker 5:And I think what's happened is we made decisions and we didn't think about the consequences. Correct, you've always got to look at the consequences, because after the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in. That's what we've done. There'll never be a time where they'll take money away from kids again. But we're going to have to go to salary cap. We're probably going to have to go to collective bargaining. We're going to have to have an NFL model for the first time. The NFL model is better than the college model. It's got to change and it's got to change fast. We're also killing our boosters. They've got booster fatigue, because how many times can you call them and ask them for money? You got 28 sports and all 28 are asking for money. My friends would say man, I got caller ID, I'm cutting you off. I want season tickets. I want you to help me build a building. I want you to pay this kid.
Speaker 4:Pay the collectives.
Speaker 5:Now we said for years you can't have an agent. Steve would be in jail if he got an agent when he was in school. Now everybody got an agent. We said for years that we can't pay you. Now I'm be in jail if he got an agent when he was in school and now everybody got an agent.
Speaker 5:Yep, we said for years that we can't pay you and now I'm calling friends that are alums and saying you need to pay stevie. Uh, so it's just. Uh. We, we, just we. We went too far too fast and now we gotta get back.
Speaker 5:The games are wonderful. I love the playoff games, but even with the playoff games, if you're going to play 16 games like an NFL player with an 18-year-old mind, we're going to have to start changing the schedules. We're going to have to start changing the portal. We're going to have to start changing spring practice. We're not caught up for what's best for the student athlete, even with the cash. Best for the student athlete. Even with the cash, everybody's going to know. If Stevie's making a million, five the other three defensive linemen are making 200. It's going to be hard for Stevie. It's just different. So the kids are wonderful. They still want to play. They still want to go to school.
Speaker 5:Somebody got on me the other day. I said these kids didn't ask for this money. We gave it to them. Maybe a few did, but the large majority didn't come in and say we're not going to play unless you pay us. And what we did. We didn't have a pay scale, so we're going to have a salary cap at some point. We'll have collecting bargaining and we'll have a plan. We'll have collecting bargaining and we'll have a plan. And the other thing it's a horrible time to be an athletics director because they've got to come up with $21 million more next year, especially in the Power 4 group.
Speaker 4:That's the revenue sharing. Is that correct?
Speaker 5:They can pay revenue sharing, and that's on top of everything else they're doing Now. Texas can handle it, but how many places across the country can do that and still support the other student athletes and still survive? It's going to be very difficult.
Speaker 3:The NCAA had a big push of parity. They wanted everybody to be competitive. Now, only the big schools are going to be competitive. Only the big schools with the big donors and the big money are going to be competitive, in my opinion.
Speaker 5:The last six that were playing had money.
Speaker 3:Exactly, that's true. It's going to be their for and their, on so on. That's exactly right.
Speaker 5:When it gets down to the end. Stevie used to say you're going to take care of me, you're going to be honest with me. Now they're saying all that, and then at the end they said there's one more question, coach, how much are you going to pay me? I hate to ask, but how much are?
Speaker 3:you going to pay me? I hate to ask Really. They're smiling on the inside because they're looking for that number.
Speaker 5:I said why didn't you ask when you got here two days ago? We could have gotten rid of the rest of that conversation. We just needed to get the most important thing out there first.
Speaker 4:Yep, real quick. Coach, you're forever tied to Austin. You're back in Austin. I mean, you've got so many loyalties and roots across the country. But when people think of Mack Brown and people in North Carolina may disagree with me, but Mack's a Texas Longhorn, you're the guy who turned this program around I mean it's hard to believe that when you took it over there was a lot of mediocrity but a long career at Texas. One national championship played for two others. There could have been four, I mean. But we're not in the business. I learned this the hard way of saying what could have been, but you were there. When you look at what Sark has done in a short period of time and I know he's had the convenience of NIL and the portal, but managing that regardless of where you are, is it tougher than what people think?
Speaker 5:Yes, you look at some schools that had money that didn't win. So if you don't have money, you're not going to be a winner on a consistent basis yeah because you're not going to get good enough players.
Speaker 5:The the best guys with the most money are going to buy the best players. You've still got to be able to evaluate the right ones that fit your place and you've still got to be able to manage that locker room. And you've still got to be able to manage that locker room and you've still got to be able to coach them and develop them. Yeah, so just have. If you don't have money, you're not going to make it. But if you do have money and you don't do a good job, you're still not going to make it, because everybody's got money. It's in that group of 15 teams that have money.
Speaker 5:So that's where Sark's done such a great job. He learned at Washington, he learned at USC, he worked for Pete Carroll, he worked for Nick Saban, he's learned in the NFL. He has the perfect background to handle this monster that Texas can become. And that's what you do when you win enough, coach Earl said one time he told me you're creating a monster. When you do, you've got to feed that sucker. It's hard to keep that monster fed and that's what you do here. But I'm really, really impressed with Chris Del Conte, the athletics director, because he's getting the money and the atmosphere in every sport. I was at the Kentucky basketball game the other night. That place was packed. The fans were into it, it's rocking, it's fun and he's done an amazing job of that. The game day atmosphere for football from afar looks unbelievable.
Speaker 5:And they've got NIL money and if you don't have NIL money, you're you're not going to make it. I talked to a major coach at another school I won't say which one it was and he told me his athletic director brought him the other major team coach in two years ago and said listen, right now you can buy players, and that's not going to happen for long. They're going to fix it. Now you can buy players, and that's not going to happen for long. They're going to fix it. But right now, for the first time ever, it's legal to buy a player. So my job is to get you as much money as I can so you can buy the best players you can buy. So when they get some sense into these rules, we're going to be ahead of the game and the ones that are doing that are the ones that will have the best teams All right, that's a little dramatic, but man, man, kate story.
Speaker 4:There have been some really good ones, legendary stories told by guests in the past, some I'll never forget and I've retold at least. Or, like the kids say, on social media, I reshared or quote, tweeted or whatever they're saying. But is there any story that you have that is just as amusing today as it was when it happened?
Speaker 5:Yeah, probably when Terry Donahue, who's a dear friend of ours that we lost, was a head coach at UCLA for 20 years. He was retiring and Sally and I were coaching in an all-star game in San Francisco with him and Sally asked him and his sweet bride, what are you doing in retirement and how's it working? And she said it's not working well at all. He's downstairs, he's trying to fix the kitchen, he's changing pictures, he's organizing my furniture. So what I did is I told him I'm gonna get you an I love me room upstairs and you can put all your little pictures and all your little trophies in that room and you can move them anywhere you want, anytime you want, but don't you touch my house and don't you touch my stuff. Well, I got told the same thing.
Speaker 3:So I love me room.
Speaker 5:They called it because she said you love your little pictures. You go up there and sit and you can sit with your pictures and your trophies and you and your I love me room will be great and that way you're not going to be messing with my house. You haven't been around for 20 years. I haven't seen you. And now you come in and want to change every light bulb. You want to move the dishes, you want no my house it's your house.
Speaker 3:I think my wife gave me my office. This office that I'm sitting in, I the I Love Me room. I think my wife gave me my office. This office that I'm sitting in, that's your office, I Love Me room. I couldn't put my Jackie Robinson jersey up in the house anywhere, so I was like I'm going to put it in my office. This is my.
Speaker 5:Jackie.
Speaker 3:Robinson jersey.
Speaker 5:It's your space. It's your space so you can put Jackie's, put his jersey up anywhere you want.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and this is my pride and joy it's Jackie Robinson and signed by Barack Obama. Oh gosh yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's pretty cool and I got the letter of authenticity and everything. I actually got that at a silent auction from golly. I told you about it, sean. What's his name? Doug English. Doug English's charity and he had us come and sit at his table and I bought that at the auction to give back to his foundation. So I'm really proud of that jersey. But I couldn't put it up anywhere else but only in my I Love Me room and I got my. I show this to my kids. I made the Athletic Director's Honor Roll one year in 2003. One year.
Speaker 5:Anytime they're messing up at school, just come up to my I Love Me room here, yep.
Speaker 4:Coach, let's take a quick break. We're going to watch Stevie Lee act again for Hargrove Roofing. And on the other side. We're going to talk about two important people who were in your life as significant figures DKR and Miss Edith and then we're going to end on some positivity, and here's some entertainment for you as we pay tribute to Hargrove Roofing.
Speaker 2:Here at Hargrove Roofing we try to think outside the box, to kind of get the creative juices flowing. So I brought in my friend Stevie Lee, former defensive tackle for the Texas Longhorns. He's going to help the team strategize, really motivate them. Light a fire.
Speaker 3:This guy's going to block down. This guy's going to block down. You put your butt into the guard and that way my Mike linebacker gets free to do what.
Speaker 2:Not only are they gonna learn a thing or two, but they're gonna also leave with a great attitude and a bunch of smiles on their faces.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry. What does this have to do with roofing exactly?
Speaker 3:Get out Right now. I said get out.
Speaker 2:For me, that's what it's all about. It's just having fun making our employees have a great time. Hargrove Roofing.
Speaker 4:Know who's on your roof. All right, we're back with Coach Brown, the Stevie Lee Super Bowl 59. Last week it was, I think, the highest rated or most watched Super Bowl, but a blowout for Philly. Coach, did you have any former players in that game? No, okay, what you saw. How would you sum up what you saw in that game? Because I don't think anybody, anybody even in Vegas, thought that was possible. Yeah, sally always had a little saying when you think something, can anybody, even in Vegas, thought that was possible.
Speaker 5:Yeah, sally always had a little saying when you think something can happen, you better look out, because that's when it does in sports. And I felt like that. All of us, everybody was talking about how Kansas City was going to win, just because they do, and I think they had about 13 one-score games that they won this year. So they didn't play great, they just finished and had confidence. And Philly had been beaten down a couple of times and they came in with a chip on their shoulder and they were not going to be denied. So it just shows you that you've got to have an edge, you've got to create that edge and you've got to play with confidence. And Philadelphia did all of that.
Speaker 4:Yep, that was Coach edge and you've got to play with confidence and philadelphia did all of that. Yep, that was coach. I just got a message, uh, from my former co-worker you know her very well at caveview uh v terry gruca, north carolina, tar hill. Uh, you guys, she she's a big fan of coach.
Speaker 4:They. They have uh sat down with each other interviewed, and our friends. She wanted me to ask you something. Uh would love to hear how he has maintained such a positive attitude despite the way it ended at carolina the second time do you know, the uh, sally and I were ready to get out, so we, you, you pray to always do what's best.
Speaker 5:But I've learned and and part through losing cole pitman and part through the tragedy at A&M, losing 12 young people to a tradition where they were just trying to support their team and I still worry about those 12 families every Thanksgiving that they've lost their children and then losing Tylee last year. I get up every morning and I make sure that I look at what I'm grateful for and I make sure I say what I'm grateful for, and instead of getting up in the morning and griping and being mad at this person or being mad at that person, I'm so grateful for so many things and I'm so lucky and I have to remind myself every morning that I'm the luckiest person in the world and that I am grateful for this. And then I call some people and tell them I'm grateful for Stevie and Summer in my life, sally and I talk about them a lot, but how many people have that many? We would call them adopted children, because we're not their parents but we're an extension of their families and so we're just so lucky and that's why I think every morning when people get up, we've got to say we're grateful and we're grateful.
Speaker 5:I'm grateful for having Coach Roll and Edith in my life. I catch myself all the time saying Coach Roll said, miss Edith said, and they've been gone quite a while now, so they're wonderful. We started MJ&M because of Ben Willie Darrell and they were giving back and they did it with country music. So that's the reason we started the charity we've got today. So every time we take a penny and send it back to some children that need it, I just put a smile on my face and thank Coach Royal, miss Edith and Willie Nelson and Ben Crenshaw for being the pioneers and leaders to show us the way.
Speaker 4:This event in April. It gets better every year and I'm not just being the marketing guy that I am now, but it's legitimately improves every year. I mean, are you blown away? Because I know Jen who puts it together. She's phenomenal at these events. And I don't know how she does it every year.
Speaker 5:I don't either, and this is our 14th year, and last year we made so much money and people are so giving, and Eric Church is our headliner this year and everything sells out a year in advance. I mean, it's just absolutely amazing. We didn't know what we were doing. You get me and Jack Ingram and Matthew McConaughey in a room and we were clueless. And here we are and because of the giving people in this state and especially the city of Austin, they've made this thing real and now it's one of the best charities in the country. It is.
Speaker 2:Hey, Ben, tell me something good.
Speaker 4:Coach Brown. You mentioned it earlier. What are we grateful for? You know what we're going to save Coach Brown for last because he earlier. What are we grateful for? You know what we're going to save Coach Brown for last, because he's the most important here. Stevie, you go first and I'll tell you what I'm grateful for.
Speaker 3:Tell me something good, man. I just really, I'm just going to go back to this whole episode. This is almost like a dream come true to me. This is really fun that I get to be on this podcast with Sean every week and then offseason every other week, but to have my old ball coach here and I get to interview him, I feel like Ryan Clark interviewing his coach on his podcast, but it's much smaller, though. Much smaller than the pivot, but it was an honor.
Speaker 3:I asked Coach Brown and he's like absolutely Give me some dates, you know, and I was really surprised that he did this. So something good for me, man, y'all. I usually give the people something good, but this is really good for me. Today I'm going to be a little bit selfish. I really want to thank Coach Brown for granting his time to us and letting me just talk and bring up some old memories and old feelings, and this has been really really good. So people just go back and watch this a couple times, man, because you're going to miss something, and go back and watch it, because Coach Brown dropped some jewels here.
Speaker 3:It's not just the stories, it's life lessons that I've learned throughout these years and being a friend of Coach Brown and a friend of Miss Sally. I really appreciate you, coach. Thank you, this was a lot of fun for me. I can't wait to see you throughout the city. You and, um, I can't wait to see you throughout the city and and continue, you too, you and miss sally can continue to uh, put your fingerprints on this city like y'all have done for since 1997. That's crazy. So, thank you, coach, love you, I love you too, and tell miss sally I love her, and thank you for her cookies all over the years.
Speaker 5:I will do that and hug your bride for us. Oh my God.
Speaker 4:Stevie, you're not wrong. Coach Brown, I can't thank you enough. You've been one of the good guys of college athletics. There's a lot of influential people in sports and who make differences in young people, Cause I I mentor young people with RBI Austin and have for a while and I see what a difference influential men and women can make, and I can't I would venture to say the thousands for you of of what kind of difference you've made in people's lives and change perspectives.
Speaker 4:Just a simple having faith in somebody. But something good I have because of people like you and other people. I know I have had that every opportunity in life to wake up and pout, and why me? But it's because of people like you and even Stevie, you didn't even know it. Because of that, of you, people, individuals who are positive. You texted me at the right time or called me, and that's what we need to do to people, because a text or a call can change the trajectory of somebody's outlook on their life and their day, and I appreciate everyone who's like that. Coach Brown, tell us something good. My friend.
Speaker 5:Something good is every morning, stevie and Sean, that we can get up, or every night when we go to bed, that everybody in our family and our friends are healthy. Then we have no problems, because if one of them is sick, and really sick, the rest of our problems are very unimportant. So we can fix everything else. But if we can't fix that sickness, we better pray that everybody's healthy. And I have learned every night I go to bed if everybody that I know and love is healthy, I got no problems. The rest of my life is great.
Speaker 5:And if you don't think that's true, wait until somebody gets sick, and then it's going to be too late, you're going to drop everything else. So those problems are not real problems, they're just situations we need to get fixed, and Stevie and I have talked about this for years. You take negatives and you turn them into positives. They're not problems, they're lessons that you learn, and when you fix them you try to make sure that they don't happen again. But if everybody's healthy in your family, if all your friends, your close friends, are healthy, if you're healthy, you've got no problems and we need to be grateful for that.
Speaker 4:Amen, Amen. We need more messages like that daily. We need a devotional Stevie. That's what we need to do Create a podcast on five-minute devotional Bring.
Speaker 5:Coach Brown on and we'll change lives that way.
Speaker 4:We got to do it somehow. Coach Brown, much love and appreciation to you and I'm so excited that you guys, you and Sally, are back here and good luck on the upcoming event in April. And, man Stevie, thank you and your family. And to the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, the hometown of these Stevie Lee and Hargrove roofing, into my college Alma mater town, nacogdoches, texas, into my beautiful hometown, austin, texas, and for coach Brown. And to my beautiful hometown, austin, texas, and for Coach Brown and well, we'll say the most important one, his better half, for Sally and Mack Brown and Stevie Lee and your beautiful family. And to the OG man Cave boys, that being Harbo, harge, big Mike and the Coach Mo Stevie. How do we do it? How do we end every episode?
Speaker 3:We out.
Speaker 1:You see the jumpy. I'm fitted up, I'm in my car, in a Gideon.
Speaker 3:I said get out.