Transcript: Ben Malbasa on Coaching, Shakespeare, and Success

Good morning, and welcome back to Late Start Show. We are here with head varsity football coach, English teacher, and U.S. class of 1996, Mr. Ben Malbasa. How are you, Coach Malbasa?

I'm doing well. Thanks for having me. It's great to have you on the show. Well, we started all our podcasts at the beginning, and this will be the same.

So can you tell us a little bit about where you grew up and what your childhood was like? Absolutely. So I came to U.S. 40 years ago, mid-year in 1985, 1986. So this is actually truly my 40th year at university school.

I grew up mostly in Cleveland. My parents were not from Cleveland originally, and they came to Cleveland. They had a friend who had a U.S. tie, a guy named Clint Jackson, who was class of 72. And between them and a few other people, they looked at U.S., and I ended up coming to U.S. mid-year.

So that's sort of been my experience and how I grew up. You know, being an alumnus of university school yourself, looking all the way back to some of those early years, do you kind of remember some of the first few days, first few years of U.S. and what that was really like for you? U.S. still is remarkable for what it does for its youngest students. And Jack, I know you came in ninth grade.

And Charlie, what year did you start? I started in kindergarten. So you experienced theme learning. And really, my experience in the 80s were the beginnings of theme learning.

So we had the group of teachers that had completely changed the way we did lower school education, grades K through four at that time. And so their approach was really remarkable. And I just remember it being so radically different from coming from, you know, sitting in a Catholic school class, sitting in rows at desks and doing worksheets. To going to stations and learning about Native American cultures, learning about the Cleveland art scene and studying painters in second grade and then fourth grade, Egypt.

I still remember that they might have an amazing fourth grade teacher who, in my mind, is one of the best educators I've known. It was a woman named Barbara Deutsch. And to this day, her fingerprints are on some of the themes at the Shaker campus that we still use. And she was so thoughtful.

She was so thoughtful about developing a young person as a thinker. You weren't a fourth grader. You were, in your context, a historian, a writer. And she cultivated that mindset and created that awe of learning that I just think is something we do very well to this day.

And it carries through as a young person then grows and matures as a learner. What is it about that all boys education at those lower levels that lets the teachers kind of channel that energy and that curiosity into something like this? It's a great question, and it's hard to answer in the sense that I know what I know now. When I think back to what I didn't know then, I think it was the flexibility and it was the activity during the day, which I think is so important.

I mean, you had field class. I mean, when I was in fifth grade and sixth grade, we had an hour and 10 minutes of field four days a week. I think that's a really good thing for a young man. As he's growing up at that age, before you're into interscholastic athletics, it's still mostly intramural, all of that at that age.

But even at those lower grades, that ability to move from station to station around a room. Now, as an adult and having read a lot of literature on the differences, we now know that a kindergarten boy is about 18 months behind a kindergarten girl verbally. So the idea that it might be a good idea. To have them learn separately seems rather obvious.

And so, obviously, from an intellectual standpoint, I now understand why it works. But back then, it was just, wow, we get to do fun things and learn while we do it. And eventually, you would transition to the high school here. What were some of those classes or teachers at the upper school that really influenced you?

Well, I think through middle school and high school, for me, for the most part, it was my coaches and teachers. And it was the people. It was the people who crossed those bridges. I mean, in seventh and eighth grade, I had a Latin teacher and a football, basketball coach, Pat McDonald, who was just passionate about learning, but also loved sharing athletics with us at that age.

You know, we had some field teachers who were incredibly influential in all of our lives. I mean, we talk about it. I have a group text to this day. And the amount of times that, you know, Dave Starrett, Frank Kanzinger, Ron Grant, and George Richards. comes up is remarkable, I think.

You know, at the high school, you know, Jim Garrett, and I knew Coach Garrett from the time I was in second grade. So, you know, I think of Coach Garrett's influence. I had an amazing history teacher, Rob Thomas, who, you know, I think generations of U.S. students would rank among the best. Terry Kessler, who wasn't a coach, but was probably the most influential teacher for me in math and economics.

You know, Jim Stevens. As a coach, became really influential in my life at the end of my time here. I was fortunate. Also, we had a coach, Tom Lombardo, who's now the head football coach at St.

Edwards. He was our head basketball coach my senior year. And he made a huge difference for many of us. And I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of people out.

You know, kind of going to that sports aspect of your high school career, were you involved in sports at U.S.? What sports? And kind of how did playing on those teams really shape your high school experience? I was a terrible athlete, as I've said many times.

One of my greatest traits as a coach is I try to look for people who look like me and make sure we attack them in a game. If you look anything like me, I don't care what sport it is. There's a weakness there. And that should be exploited.

I was really lucky, though. You know, I'm thinking of people who influenced me. You know, our athletic director was also my advisor sponsor during my time. It was Tom Callow.

And, you know, Coach Callow, Coach Grant before him at the Shaker campus. They... And... And Dave Starrett certainly fostered the fact that I knew at a very young age I loved the game and was very interested in coaching at a young age.

And all of them encouraged that. And so, you know, at every stage, you know, they were looking for me for opportunities to be involved on that end of coaching. You know, my senior year, Tom Lombardo walks up to me at football practice and says, I heard you're going to go out for basketball. I said, yeah, Coach, I can't wait.

And he says, you're cut. And this was a year after, you know, Coach Morton, another amazing teacher and coach in my life, had said to me, why are you here at tryouts for basketball? And, you know, Coach Lombardo said, no, you're definitely cut. Come manage for me.

I'll treat you as an assistant coach. And that's really how I got really involved in coaching. You know, U.S. has a storied football tradition. Were you kind of involved in that football program tradition early?

Or can you kind of tell us some of those experiences that you... Really had? We do have an amazing tradition. I mean, you know, there's some game film of me as a junior bobbing on a sideline and getting drilled by a kid from Kiske on a kickoff.

And I think that film may or may not still exist. So, you know, my level of play was really poor. I was, again, though, fortunate to be around some really good people. You know, I had some great classmates.

You know, one of my classmates was the first... line of quarterbacks to lead the area in passing. We kind of had a run in the 90s and early 2000s. We were a pretty good passing offense. And so it had been a little bit of time.

We were an early adopter of the spread offense. And so from that period and then into the early 2000s, we threw the ball a lot more than other football teams in Cleveland. That was a great experience to have as a young... both as a student and then as a coach, you know, to learn something that really was a little bit new. In high school football.

Yeah. And spoiler alert, you did come back to U.S. later in your career. But I'm wondering, when you were at U.S. as a student, did you already know that you love this place and wanted to give back to it? Were you able to have that kind of presence in that moment?

I think if you'd asked my classmates who's most likely to be at U.S. as a teacher and coach in the future, I think I would have won that award. In part because... And I think... That's not unique in the sense that I think a lot of us were very passionate about our experience.

You know, I've had two great influences in my life. I have amazing parents and university school. And that's really been... Those experiences that I had here were so important to me that I wanted to be part of that moving forward.

I also knew, though, that coaching and teaching were important. You know, I think part of it is growing up. I'm still very close with my father. You know, my dad's...

The people he respected the most were his high school coaches. And so hearing those stories growing up and then having the coaches who impacted me, I just think I knew that was a path I wanted to follow in some form or another. And Terry Kessler said something to me really smart when I was a senior. I told him, you know, I think I'd like to work for 20 years and then teach.

And he said to me, he said, I understand that and a lot of people think it. He said, it's really hard to do. And his comment to me, you know, you'll get in a lifestyle and used to a set of things and then shift. And that's a really hard decision to make.

And it did stick with me. And as I was in college and thinking about what I really wanted to do after college, that pushed me to say, hey, I want to go into education more quickly. You know, after graduating U.S. in 1996, you went to John Carroll University. How did you kind of find the transition from high school to college and what influenced your decision to attend John Carroll?

So I actually want to correct the record. I went to Ohio State. And that was back before it was hard to get into Ohio State, just to be clear. So that's, you know, that wasn't impressive.

But I went to Ohio State in part because I was a little unique and I wanted to be able to go to Big Ten football games. So maybe in a way I was a little ahead of my time in terms of college tastes as I look at some of our students who go to SEC schools that still makes me hard to understand today in 2025. But when I went to Ohio State, I had a great experience there. I had a chance to transfer back to Carroll and coach JV basketball for Coach Lombardo.

And so really, that's why I made the change. And I will tell you, college was a breeze compared to U.S. I mean, I've told many people this. I had better grades as an undergrad, graduate student, and law student than I ever had.

And I was able to get to that level of academics. You know, I wouldn't have they wouldn't even let me to the assembly for cum laude as a student here at U.S. And, you know, and I'm going to say it as a law student, you know, I was able to get to that level of of of academics. And I thought law school was so much easier than U.S.

It's not even funny. You know, afterwards, you travel to St. John's to get your master's degree. And then after St.

John's, you went to Case Western Reserve University for law school. What made you kind of decide to earn a law degree after liberal arts studies? Well, law is a liberal art, and I think that's sometimes lost. You know, at one point we treated law as part of an undergraduate liberal arts education.

And there are actually some really good thinkers. In fact, the commencement speaker my senior year at U.S. was a guy named Austin Surratt, who was a professor at Amherst. I mean, he's actually made this argument. We do people a disservice by not treating law as an essential liberal art.

And I'm glad that we actually have it in many ways. And our program with Mr. Perry's classes and Ms. Coy's classes, because I think having an appreciation for being able to think about things from varied perspectives is one of the real gifts of a law school education.

You know, I think for me, it was an opportunity to grow. I I taught for four years right out of college. I had the opportunity to go to law school, and I loved every minute of law school. And I still practice some law to this day.

I mean, the beauty of law is it helps you help others solve problems. And that's true if you're a criminal defense attorney. And it's true if you're creating an M&A deal, you're helping people solve problems. And what could be more fun than that if you like dealing with other people?

Not to mention even those who aren't so extroverted doing the legwork that oftentimes is behind the scenes in law. That helps people solve problems is, I think, core to the practice. Yeah. And you mentioned there is that four year period between when you graduated school and then went on to law school.

What was those? You said those teaching, correct? Yes. What was that first experience with teaching like?

Were there any new moments in the classroom that you had to work through? You know, I taught four sections of English and coached three sports, football, basketball and baseball. And I would. Never be hired today.

We're a much better school today than we were when I was hired. And I say that today we hire Ph.D.s in English. And I will say there's all kinds of advantages to the school that you have attended. There was also some value, though, in having a full immersion into being a teacher and a coach and being around high school young men really for 13, 14, 15 hours a day and getting to know that student who, you know, might drive you nuts in second block.

But then you see, boy, he's a really good teammate. He works really hard on the football field. And hey, maybe there's something there that can help him do a little bit better in English. And then also at the same time, occasionally having that student that you really like in English class, but you find absolutely annoying on on the field or on the on the court.

And in trying to understand, OK, well, this is a different way to reach that young man. And I do think one of our strengths as a school for its history has been that belief that that mentoring, teaching, coaching process is immersive. And and I think it's one of our I wouldn't say it's not something we've lost, but it's one of our challenges to make certain that we can continue to develop it. And find that that balance as as we move forward.

And it's a different world today on so many levels. But I do think that was an incredible four year sort of teaching immersion experience. And, you know, I had a department chair, Phil Cocatilo, who was amazing. And so I learned so much as a young English teacher.

I joked when when I went to Elyria Catholic in my third year of law school, and I taught English class, I taught a regular junior section of English. So I was a full time law student. I was a part time teacher and obviously was that football coach. And we had Andrew and Thomas week four after a big win.

I think of their birth date as week four. I don't always remember the exact birthday. But the my memory is within two weeks, students were like, our class is harder than the AP class. And really what I was just doing was I was just teaching.

I was just doing this activity. I was just doing this activity. And I was just teaching and I could not finish it. And I was just learning how to do it.

And I was just learning how to do it. And it was just a great experience. And I think I was also a little bit of a part time student of the class. I was a part time student with the class.

I was also part time student at the US Junior year because that's what I knew. And so it's an amazing experience because, you know, I just got to be around a really talented group of students that year who completely rose to the occasion and ended up, you know, really loving that class and it's a group that I'm still in touch with. head coach at Benedictine High School. How did that opportunity arise, and what was that experience like there? So we lived on the east side of Cleveland the whole time that I was at Elyria Catholic.

And so for those of you who don't know, Elyria is far west side. And it was about a 50 minute commute. Benedictine was literally eight minutes door to door from my house. When the job opened, even my athletic director and principal at Elyria Catholic was saying, oh, you should go to the Benedictine job.

It's obviously a great tradition. But I'll also say there's a great lesson that I would share with anyone. Make certain when you do something, you do it because it's what you want, not because you think it's what you're supposed to do. I still remember driving from Elyria Catholic, having just talked to my team at EC and going to meet the team at Benedictine.

And I just, I remember having a kind of a feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why am I doing this? I love what I do. I love where I do it.

And I really was part of a special community at Elyria Catholic. It's still very special to me. And it's nothing. And Benedictine's a great school with a great mission, has some amazing human beings, obviously an incredible football tradition.

And so this is nothing about Benedictine. It's just always make certain you know why you're doing something. I'll also say, don't assume that you're the reason for being successful. Don't assume that you're the reason for being successful.

Don't assume that you're the reason for being successful. Don't assume that you're the reason for being successful. You know, I think anyone is a young person. I shouldn't say, I'll just say, speak for me.

I think had a lot of initial success as a head coach. And you don't appreciate some of the ways in which you're lucky. When I was Elyria Catholic, I had a great coaching staff with very little effort on my part, bought in to everything we did. And I just thought, oh, you treat people well, you have some talented players, call some good ball plays.

You're going to have a lot of success. And the reality is building a staff over time and having everyone on the same page and teaching, those are things that are really important. And it's just like building a team, you know, building a company, any of those items, you need to make sure you have the right people on the bus. You need to make certain that they've got the right direction.

Everyone has to be on the same page. And that's something I learned from my Benedictine experience that, hey, that doesn't happen by accident. And so, you know, I was there for two years. It wasn't exactly what I wanted.

I was there for two years. I was there for two years. I was there for two years. I was there for two years.

I was there for two years. I was there for two years. I was there for two years. Someone who was a good friend of my AD at Elyria Catholic was the athletic director at NDCL.

And he called me when they had the opening. I had a great time at NDCL. I'd probably still be there if it weren't for the fact that when Jim Stevens retired, that my boys were already here, Andrew and Thomas. And then I had the opportunity to be here at university school, which has been so impactful in my life.

You know, my next question is about be that when 2015, you kind of got that call. What was that moment like for you? Kind of return to the moment where you were like, turning home to lead the program, kind of where it all started? You know, I mean, maybe at the risk of thinking everything's a lesson for others, certainly a lesson for me.

The person who was most responsible, the two people are most responsible for me coming back. One was Jim Stevens, my predecessor, who called me when he was ready to retire and said, Ben, is this something you'd want to do? And then the other person was Dr. O'Neill, Bill O'Neill, who's, you know, an amazing administrator here, was director of the upper school at points, obviously a very successful cross country and golf coach.

And, you know, it was really interesting because when I was a young teacher, Doc and I weren't always on the same page. And yet when I left and I went to law school, we made a point of getting together for lunch or breakfast about once a year. And over that time, we developed a relationship and then obviously, you know, went through the search process here and came back. And, you know, it was a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, Bill's the main reason I came back.

And I guess I would say it's really good to maintain relationships with people, even sometimes when at first you might not be on the same page as them. Because over time, you learn to appreciate some of the things that they see. And maybe they appreciate some of the things that you see too. But, you know, and again, he's been one of the most helpful people to me as a coach in philosophy.

And all of that came after I left here after four, four years as a young teacher. And so I'm really grateful for that relationship to this day. It's every time I sit down with Doc, it's a conversation that makes me a better thinker, a better teacher, better coach, probably a better parent. You know, Doc is amazing on so many fronts.

Where did you meet Coach Kennedy along this coaching journey? Yep. I met Coach Kennedy. Coach is a Benedictine grad.

I met him when I was the head coach at Benedictine. He came in. He was a coach at Benedictine. He was a coach at Benedictine.

He was coaching at a small school, Ledgemont, that no longer exists. And he was the defensive coordinator. And we were just sharing some ideas. And I was really struck by Coach's passion.

Fast forward, I take the job at NDCL, and I'm looking for a defensive coordinator. And I said to him, hey, is this something you'd be interested in? And he was. And then, you know, obviously, that's been an incredible partnership.

I think the thing that strikes me most about Coach, he's such a clear-headed person. He's such a clear-headed person. He's such a clear-headed person. He's such a clear communicator of anything.

And I think it's why he's so good at track, why he's so good at basketball, why he's so good at coaching football. He communicates things clearly. He has an ability to make certain that, you know, he's going to be fair but tough. And he has a passion for seeing a young person develop.

You know, so I take a lot of pride in the fact that, you know, he came over to U.S. when I came here from NDCL, because I think he's a great guy. And I think he's a great guy. And I think he's a great guy. And I think he's a great guy.

And I think he's a great guy. And I think he's about as impactful as any coach could be. You talked about your predecessor, Coach Jim Stevens, who had been here for, I believe, 15 years. How did you feel about stepping into the shoes of such a long-tenured coach?

Like, were you nervous, excited, all of it? Both. You know, I think one of the things about Coach is, first of all, he completely changed the way we trained. You know, so in the late 90s, early 2000s, we did not have a great offseason.

We didn't have a great offseason. We didn't have a great offseason. We didn't have a program. And, you know, Coach Stevens was the person who really said, we have to make the weight room matter.

And by the way, he did all of that without Coach Alvarez. Everything I do is a cheap version of Coach Stevens. I mean, he did all of the training for almost everybody in the school. And that was in addition to being an amazing English teacher, writing an incredible number of college recs and helping just about every student he had with their college.

So Coach was really remarkable on a lot of fronts. He also took on a lot of the responsibilities himself. Now, part of that was it was a different era. But at the same time, I think one of the things is, you know, he also knew and he put me at ease because he said, Ben, there's going to be some things you think we need to do that are going to be a lot different.

And he said, I want you to know you're right. And not to worry about it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.

I'm going to worry about it. He said, look, he said, you know, what we were doing 15 years ago made sense. He said, I just, you know, didn't always have the will to make the changes that I thought probably need to be made. And so, you know, what a great gift from somebody that I have such immense respect for to say, hey, Ben, it's okay to make changes.

You know, Coach Stevens probably never had a staff meeting in his life. You know, we have staff meetings. And my first year, he was actually on staff. He was our linebackers coach.

And it was such a fun year. And I think maybe one of my personal highlights, we had an upset of Maple Week 10. And he walked up, he says, is it okay if I say I'm proud of you? And I'm like, yes.

And it was so awesome to get to coach with him because he'd done so much for me. You know, moving to U.S.'s program specifically, what do you think defines the culture of U.S. football? And what makes it unique compared to other teams in kind of area? Culture is a buzzword.

We all use it. I think culture, culture is really important. I think culture is a buzzword. I think culture is a buzzword.

I think culture is a buzzword. I think culture is a buzzword. I think culture is a buzzword. I think culture is a buzzword.

What is it that keeps us together? And let's face it, you know, over the course of time, and you guys have experienced some years on some teams, culture is stronger than other years, right? I think overall, over the course of 11 years, that sense of brotherhood, that sense of togetherness has been the strongest consistent trait. And, you know, I think, number one, that's something that's true.

Very much as a school culture, you know, I think we take that seriously. But I think football, because of the demands, you know, if you do workouts at 6.30 a.m. four days a week in the summer, it's hard to not feel a sense of deep commitment to what you do. I mean, so culture is the shared belief, but it's also the shared practice. And, you know, when I think about elements of our school that have the strong...

Strongest cultures, right? And, you know, and again, I'm going to miss people when I say this. I look at speech and debate, and I look at the work that they consistently put in. Well, there's a huge shared commitment there.

You know, I look at baseball and its success. There's a massive shared commitment in that program. And again, I feel badly because I know I'm leaving out places where there is clearly a strong culture. But again, I think that combination of shared belief and shared practice really matters.

And I think at some level, right, in football, it's about doing the daily tasks that you have to do to compete. And also, right, knowing that, let's face it, nothing's guaranteed. You know, in football, it's a highly competitive area for football. So, hey, we can do everything right, but we're going to go play against teams that do everything right also.

You're not just going to win because you do everything. Right. And others don't. Well, that's the real world, right?

There's no guarantee of results, and you have to figure out how to get better at the margins. Let's talk about Team 136 specifically. Looking back at this past season, what are you most proud of, and what lessons did you learn from this team? I was very proud of the resilience of this team.

You know, Week 5, we had a very rough loss at home to Akron East. It was a rough performance. Yeah. And I was pretty down after the game.

I thought it was a game that we had opportunities to win. We turned the ball over. We didn't execute in key situations. We committed some really, really weak penalties.

And what I mean by that is that they were moments where we just mentally lost focus. And obviously, that's game five of the season. You're halfway through. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. as a coach, you know, I felt like I let my team down.

At some point, right, that's what we had allowed. And that's where we were at. And obviously, you got looming a rivalry game the next week that was very significant to our team in the second half of the season that had some really tough games involved. So to see our team, number one, have the best week of practice I've ever had at university school.

We kind of made a point about the energy we wanted at practice. And this is where it all combines. And you can't do this every week. We not only kind of demanded a level of enthusiasm and energy at practice, and players responded.

You know, our coaches, I kept them here till about 8.30 every night that week, Tuesday, Wednesday, or excuse me, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, to go over every moment of film from practice those days. To get ready for that game against Gilmore. And so, you know, I think players saw the effort that their coaches were making. Coaches, I think, saw the increased intensity of the players.

And it brought out the best in everyone. And I have a friend who's an older guy who is a, who writes a lot about how teams achieve what he calls flow. You know, those sort of magical moments, right? You know, that day when your team is a little better than it ever is.

And his whole point, right, is it comes from an atmosphere where leaders lead leaders. That if you understand everyone is a leader. And so, you know, hey, that guy on the sideline who's, you know, screaming third down in practice because he's trying to create a little bit of juice for the practice session is leading, right? He's affecting how others perceive practice as much as right.

The safe do is also calling out the coverage and getting it right and making certain, you know, the ties, ties got us in the right coverage or Collins got us in the right coverage. It's all together and everyone's eating. Yes, coaches might make the practice plan or plan the indie period. But players are also leading us and saying, hey, this is what we want.

And you can ask more of us. And sure enough, you know, we play some pretty good football and win a huge game for our team. And I thought set up a nice second half of the season. And it was, you know, it was interesting that that carried through in practice.

That unique week of practice carried through right till the end. And I, and I really think maybe the defining thing about this season was how much this group wanted another week. And we didn't catch the breaks. I mean, that happens.

You know, again, football's highly competitive. At the same time, I don't know that I've ever had a group that was more passionate about having the opportunity to play. And, and hey, our guys were more passionate about having the opportunity to play. And I think that's a real testament to the resilience and to the attitude and that togetherness, right, of the team.

You know, ultimately, again, we talk a little bit about loyalty, right? And loyalty is a tough word, right? Because on one hand, it's the individual, right, to the other player. But ultimately, if we're not all loyal to the team, if we're not all loyal to what we believe, if we're not all loyal to our team, then we're not all loyal to the team.

And that's a real testament to the our school and its values, you know, whatever those, that loyalty level is, then it might not work. And this team showed incredible loyalty to the team and to the goals of the team. And I thought that was really remarkable. One of the highlights of the season, at least for me, was that game at the Shaker Campus under the lights that you've mentioned at assembly you had been envisioning for a long time now.

Can you talk about what that experience was like and just seeing the community come together for that game? Okay, I'm going to back up for a moment. I came here in 1985. And one of the questions was, you know, how do we have, you know, these two campuses and bring them together?

And it was interesting because when I first came here as a student, you still had a lot of teachers who had experienced the school on one campus. And don't forget, we didn't stop playing games at the Shaker Campus until 78. You know, so all the football and soccer games were there, even about eight to 10 years after we moved out to Hunting Valley. Um, there were still teachers that went back and forth between the campuses, and taught on both campuses when I was a student here.

So there were still some things that kept the campuses a little more together. Most of the administrators had been on a one-school campus at that point. And of course, by the time I'm graduating here, it's becoming an issue. There's, you know, we go through an accreditation process every seven years called ISACS.

It's an independent schools, you know, consortium that does the evaluation. And I think it was four straight seven-year accreditations. Yeah, you kind of have some different campuses and cultures. You need to really work on bringing them together.

Came back, I teach, constantly talking about that in meetings. In fact, how do we bring these campuses together? Come back 11 years later, or after law school and teaching elsewhere, 10 years later, first meeting I'm at, they're talking about that, that issue. And, and I think at some level, the most obvious way to keep a shared campus together is to bring them together.

And I think that's the most obvious way to keep a shared campus culture is to have opportunities where the campuses are together. And the reality is you can't do Founders Day every week. You know, but you can have events where everyone is involved and where your younger students see your older students and look to them and say, well, I'd like to do that. And so to me, it's always been an obvious answer that football games in greater Cleveland, in the Midwest, you know, high school football game is one of those kinds of events where you can have community.

It's not the only one. I want to make sure that's clear, but it's certainly a good example of one. And, and so I've always thought that made it worthwhile. I've, I also believe from a young age, we have this beautiful campus on 200 acres, but if a football game happens here and nobody sees it, does it really happen?

Whereas, Hey, if you're in Shaker Heights, you're in a neighborhood, people are aware of it. Let's face it on a Friday night, too. Think of how involved you two are. And you're just a microcosm of a student body that is hyper involved.

How many things do you guys have on a Saturday that would stop you from going to a game? A ton of stuff, not to mention all of our student athletes who are competing often at those times. And you play a Friday night game. There's more opportunity for students to be together.

I don't think it hurts that HB and Laurel are a short walk away. You know, I think that can add a little, something to it as well in terms of the appeal of, of going to a game on a Friday night. So I think all those factors together, and then you throw in the lights. I think those are all elements that I'd say, Hey, that's, that's a lot of fun.

So it'd be great if that's, that's something we could do going forward. You know, as you look ahead, what do you kind of hope to see from the program next year, two years kind of going in the future? Are there any kind of specific goals or milestones you have in mind? I think to me, continuing to build, the sense of program.

And we've, I think we've done a lot of this over the last 10 years, continuing to build a program fifth grade up, um, in terms of the rookie tackle, what we do at the middle school, um, your brother in eighth grade at a, at a good middle school is nice to see a Nelson and a football helmet, um, which was great. Um, he's now my favorite brother and I barely know him, Jack. Um, but, uh, you know, seeing that and, um, making certain that we're maximizing the level at which we teach all the way through the same fundamentals, you know, plays are nice. People say, I'll run the offense.

Okay. A little bit. That's true. Use some terminology, but most importantly, how do you teach tackling?

How do you teach running around? Um, all of those details. I think that's something where we can continue to maximize that development, um, in our program, um, five through 12. So that's a goal.

And then, you know, obviously we want to be a consistent playoff team. You know, it's disappointing to not be playing this week. Um, and I know, I know all of our guys are really committed to making certain. I mean, as I start my off season conversations, that's something we want every year to be a playoff team.

Um, so, you know, I think those are, those are goals. And then to advance in the playoffs, we haven't done that in a few years. It's, uh, it's, it's time for us to take that next step. So we've talked a lot about football, but you've coached, you've also taught here.

You've also been in other roles, um, with connecting with alumni. And as you look at your legacy as a whole at university school, what do you hope to be remembered by, by students when that time comes to retire, move on? Um, what do you hope to be remembered as? I think legacy would be way too big of a word.

When I think of people who have legacies, they, they were so impactful for so many people for so long. Um, you know, I mentioned Tom Callow. I mean, did every job you could, ever have and had such humility in doing it. Um, you know, everything from head football coach to athletic director to, you know, at the end of the career, career, driving the bus to make certain, you know, the JV team gets to Akron on time.

Um, you know, I, I think if, if anything, you know, the hope would be that like any teacher helping, helping a young man discover something about which he's passionate and then a, a process for pursuing it, right? Both are important, right? You know, on one hand, the spark matters, but if you don't learn how to follow up on that spark, then, then that's a lost opportunity. And I think one of the things that so many of my colleagues do well here, and I hope maybe I contribute to in a small way is, is both ends of that process.

Um, you know, I've, I've said to teams before, you know, this will not be the best thing you do. Hey, it might be great, but it's just a sign of the passion you have for this and the work ethic you commit to this. That's a template for the next passion you pursue. Um, you know, I, I've always said part of our responsibility in the motto is to be ambitious, think big, pursue great things and have the work ethic to achieve them.

Um, and, and I'd like to think if, if anything that I've helped us, I've helped us, I've helped us, I've helped us, I've helped us, I've helped us, think big, um, but also helped create some processes where, where young people and even old people like me get better at, at pursuing them. You know, for a student athlete considering U.S., how would you kind of pitch the football program to them, pitch this school to them, and what makes playing here so special? Yeah, I think Mrs. Townsend-Harris does a great job of saying, right, it's a, it's a 40-year decision, um, not a four-year decision.

And, and I think the, the thing I would come back to is, you know, we pursue excellence. Right? We pursue it on the football field, we pursue it in all of our athletic endeavors, we pursue it in all of our artistic endeavors, all of our, um, all of our extracurricular endeavors, and we pursue it in the classroom. Do you love to learn and do you love to play?

If you don't love either one, this is not the place, right? I mean, if you don't love, and by the way, love doesn't mean it's easy, right? Um, you know, you might love to learn and you might love to get good grades. You don't, I don't think, generally love it when it's 10 o'clock at night and you still got two hours of homework, right?

So I'm not saying, oh, you're going to enjoy every minute of it, okay? But if you, if you love the thought of, okay, hey, I'm going to pursue this and be the best version of myself I can be, right? And you love to pursue that athletically, that's an amazing combination that you can pursue here in a way that not every, you know, you can pursue in a way that not every player can pursue in a way that not every player can offer. And, and so, you know, to me, that's always my question.

Do you love to learn and do you love to play? Whatever sport that is, in my case, it's football. Um, but boy, boy, you better love both. And I think that's, that's really the, the magic of, of university school.

We've also talked about a little bit about that magic is the brotherhood we have here, um, and that sense of family and community. You've been lucky enough to actually have your family here. Um, you've coached with your father and your sons, two sons are here at U.S. What has it been like having your family here at U.S. and being able to share this with them?

Well, it means a lot. Um, you know, again, I shared a little bit of, of my, my parents and their influence, um, both really committed to education. And my dad's a little bit of an interesting story. He initially didn't want us to come to U.S.

He kind of viewed it as the private school and he had a stereotype in mind. And, and, you know, Charlie knows him a little bit better, I think, than you do. But, you know, I don't think anyone could be more passionate about U.S. uh, than him in, in the bigger picture, um, after he saw our experiences here. Um, so it's been fun to have him involved with football.

And then obviously, most importantly, what I think I've most appreciated for Andrew and Thomas is that they have a different set of interests than I do. Um, you know, obviously Andrew and Thomas didn't play football. Um, and yet they've pursued things that they are passionate about with the same intensity, uh, the, the same focus and with the same people guiding them, the same kinds of inspiration guiding them that I would hope, you know, someone who loves football gets here at university school. Um, and so, and, and what I think I also love too, is that they have a really close-knit group of friends that stick up for each other and they care about each other.

Uh, and, and I think that's when I think about my U.S. experience and I see them have a, maybe a different flavor of it, but that same experience, that's been really special to me as, as a father. You know, looking back at your time at U.S., we all need to laugh sometimes. Do you have kind of a funny or unexpected moment, either in practice or game or just even teaching that really kind of just sticks out to you? Well, I, I think my, my first year back at U.S. were about two, about a week and a half into school.

And I assigned my first English paper in English 10. And one of my football players is in the class. And later on, he'll, he'll go on to coach. And I assigned my first English paper in English 10.

And one of my football players is in the class. And later on, he'll, he'll go on to coach. And one of my football players is in the class. And later on, he'll, he'll go on to coach.

And so he's on to coach for us and be involved, Coach Fidelity. And I assigned the first paper, and he raises his hand. Yes, yes, Mr. Fidelity.

In my English classes, everyone's Mr. Yes, Mr. Fidelity. He says, Coach, you didn't come back to coach school.

We really have to do this paper? There was a, you know, so it was a really long, staring contest. And then I just said, yes. And so, you know, but, he definitely made me laugh that was uh that was a a really funny moment um it was also fun that same year uh mrs jan fazio who was a colleague of mine and a great teacher um she she would joke with me at lunch and you know she would make fun of my sponsees i would make fun of her and her sponsees and one of our football players uh kevin douglas thought we really didn't like each other he was a horrified because she was his sponsor and it was like my coach and my sponsor don't get along and we had to like have a talk with him like no we're actually best friends so those those were some funny moments especially when i first came back i think it's hard to explain but something that's special about us is the amount of humor and i think one mark of intelligence is being able to be quick with and have the humor and you walk around these halls and it's just jokes flying everywhere some smart things smart things being said and exchanged i think that's the thing that's really special i'll add one other thing you to your point i think one of the things we do well is take what you do seriously don't take yourself seriously and i think from our leadership on down the level of ability to recognize our own we all have some absurdities i probably have more than most um but to be able to recognize it to laugh at yourself i think is a skill we develop here i think you know no matter how successful a u.s grad is i'm always struck by that level of sort of self-deprecation humility that almost every u.s grad has and i think it's because you don't really walk the hall here and not occasionally have somebody call you out on your flaws um and and so it's a it's a pretty good training ground for life you know coach coming to the last question one of the things i always think about when i think about kind of my time playing football and a lot of people can say the same are those pre-game speeches right what's one line or message from a pep talk that you've given that's just really resonated with you or the team or something that's just kind of really stuck out and that you still think of today i've never thought much about pre-game speeches um first of all i'm not quite sure how important they are right i mean by the time you get hit two plays into the game it probably diminishes any effect of what your coach said you know 15 minutes ago um i will say my predecessor jim stevens once made a point that basically every football pre-game talk is in shakespeare and most of them are the band of brothers speech okay and henry v so it's some part of the crispin's day speech uh in some form or you know another so you know i i think that's uh that's maybe something to think about you know we basically it's a you're special you're you're your group has worked really hard we don't need anybody else hey and if you work hard together you'll always remember it that's really what the the crispin's crispin's day speech is and if you think about it that's the most pre-game talks you've ever heard from any coach um and so you know i i guess i'll give credit to coach stevens for shaping them if i've ever said one thing that i was proud of in a pre-game speech it was it was something along the lines of what i said earlier right this will not be the best thing you do but it will be a sign make certain what you do play in play out as a sign of everything you will do and i i thought that was that was something that was a good message and i'm glad it stuck um you know we kind of have it in the locker room as something that we we keep front of mind um and i think that that point is really true right all the time it's true right all the time it's true right all the time it's true right all the time it's true right all the things we do here even at our most impressive right hopefully none of this your your a plus grade your stranod project you know your great football game and a rivalry game hopefully none of that is the best thing you do right that's not why you're at university school you're here to begin that process of thinking about what the next big thing is and guess what there's always a next big thing um and that's true whether you're 18 48 78 you know jack and i often talk about our why the reason we do what we do what is your why what motivates you to come in on the early mornings and stay spending countless hours just leading the football team become just a better teacher just becoming a better person every single day i'm gonna credit doc o'neill again if you're going to be successful at anything you have to have an irrational belief in the importance of what you do hey i believe team sports football in particular matter and and again not not i mean not always this game but i believe something about young people learning to compete together and pursue a goal together is absolutely crucial that's what people taught me that's what i hope i would would would pass along to guys that i i teach and coach i believe english class matters right there are plenty of people you know why does red rick matter you know why why is it so important to teach parallelism well you know i happen to believe that if you can put your ideas together in a clear form and you can communicate them and you can recognize the way others are putting their ideas together you have the opportunity for your ideas to be more impactful um and you also have the opportunity to catch some other people whose ideas maybe might be impactful in the wrong direction um you know why does literature matter well what is literature there's a reason great works survive right they survive because somehow they capture something that is beautiful and true and good right or something that's evil right you can see temptation in macbeth right you know there's a reason why macbeth lives as a text there's a reason why gatsby lives as a text right there's something very true about something in your past you idealizing and maybe struggling with it but there's a reason why you can see temptation in macbeth struggling to make it your present we can all relate to that we can all learn from it and so yeah i mean i think at some level right if you teach and coach it's because you have an irrational belief in the importance of what you do um you know even what i do in development right at some level you know i believe in our mission and i believe in its ability to transform young people and in doing that transform the world and other people might say hey that's absurd and i would i would point out to them maybe it is but aren't we all better off if we have that sense of belief in the importance of what we do show me someone who's good at anything and i'll show you someone who has an irrational belief in the importance of what they do um and that's to me the maybe the core of a core of a good life well coach malbasa it's been great having you on the show jay thank you so much for taking the time to share your insights and experience and stories with us to our listeners thank you so much for tuning in and we'll hope you'll join us next wednesday for another episode of late start show thank you coach thank you guys i appreciate what you do