Transcript: Griff Koch on Leadership, Resilience, and Raising the Standard of US Football

Good morning, and welcome back to the show. We are here with Senior Prefect, Varsity Football Captain, and Columbia Football Commit, Griff Cook. How are you, Griff? I'm doing great.

How are you? Happy to be here. Oh, it's great to have you on the show, finally. Yeah.

Well, let's start at the beginning, Griff. So, how did you first come to university school, and do you remember your early days here? Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a funny story. I actually, my old house that I really grew up in was about five minutes away from the Shaker campus, so I think that's really what put U.S. on our radar, funny enough.

And I went to Laurel, because both my sisters went there for preschool, and then I've been here since kindergarten. And honestly, it's been a great time. I still remember my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Zurgot, and I don't know if I really have, like, an amazing memory of it, but there are definitely kind of snapshots of, like, memories I remember.

Like, I remember we shot marshmallows at a castle one time. That's a really vivid memory I have. It's kind of funny, but... You know, going to that Shaker campus, I mean, I was left for two, and some of those experiences that you have at the Shaker campus, whether it's lower school or middle school, they were really just some of your favorite memories.

So what is, I mean, if you can really pick one, what is your favorite memory from that Shaker campus that really still sticks with you? Oh, yeah. I mean, there really is so many. I think one of my favorite memories, I mean, I can go class and then outside of class.

My favorite kind of class memory is definitely Mr. McCarter's eighth grade history class. I think it was the first time we really talked about, like, really current events and kind of got me interested in history, kind of what was going on in the world. And I remember it was the start of the Ukraine war, and that sounds kind of a funny thing to have a favorite memory.

And it wasn't that, but it was the fact that he was just willing to explore kind of our own opinions and talk about it with us at a level where he was kind of treating us like an equal. And I think those conversations are really important. And I would also say, I mean, my sports experiences at the lower school were also incredible. Just that there's really nothing like, I mean, I'm probably say it in the future of this podcast, but I think, like, there's nothing like kind of being on a team and especially football and basketball.

And I think that those memories with those coaches, I think, were just awesome. There's nothing like it. Yeah. And let's talk.

Let's talk about some of those coaches that you had at the lower school. Like, did you play for Coach Lipford or Dr. Yoder? I did, yeah.

Dr. Yoder started coaching seventh grade the year after I was there. So in eighth grade, that's when he started coaching. But yeah, Mr.

Lipford was a great coach of mine. I always had a great time with him. He was super experienced. And honestly, like, he just kind of had a gift for coaching.

Yeah. Were you already into sports at such a young age? Like, when did you really start to kind of pick up football? I know for a while you also played basketball.

So when were you kind of... Interesting in those sports? And when did you really start competing in them? Yeah, it's kind of funny.

I kind of like, we kind of took a shotgun approach of sports in my family. My mom was a tennis player in college. So she kind of tried to push it on me and my two sisters. My little sister, it finally stuck.

She's a tennis player. But I kind of rebounded from sport to sport when I was a kid. Like, I remember I did taekwondo for a while. It was really random.

But I did kind of went from tennis to swimming. And then when I realized I really did not like swimming, I started playing basketball. And that was really my first sport that I really stuck with for a while. And then football, obviously, it's worked out for me now.

But my parents actually didn't let me play until eighth grade because they were scared that it was going to... And they actually, my mom always laughs and says, they thought that, okay, we'll finally let him do it after asking. He's going to hate it when it's hard and then quit. And obviously, I'm going to be playing for another four years.

So it didn't really work out that well. I don't know about that. You know, what was it kind of like moving up from the middle school to the high school? I mean, sports is definitely a big transition.

But what was it like with new coaches, with new teammates, kind of gained your footing? Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely a change. I think high school is kind of where you start to realize that it really matters, the kind of work you put in. I think that was the biggest thing for me.

I obviously, I came to school with an ACL tear, actually. So it made it kind of hard, I feel like, to connect with a lot of those. A lot of my teammates, I would say, at the time, because I was always on the sideline and either in crutches or in a brace, just kind of watching. So it was definitely difficult.

But I think because of the coaches and because of some of the great senior leaders that were at the time, I felt pretty welcomed, to be honest. And I always, because of the other amazing coaches we had, I mean, Coach Mabasa and like Coach Kennedy with freshman basketball and stuff like that, I always did feel kind of ingrained in the community immediately. And I don't know if that's the case for everyone, but I think that university school does a really good job of that. We have a lot of adults as well as student leaders that are always trying to get people more involved.

And I think that's something that I've kind of taken as a prefect and like a football captain is kind of trying to take up that mantle of, really, being a leader and trying to make everybody else feel involved, I would say. Yeah, cool. Well, let's talk about some of those senior leaders who kind of became like big brothers to you when you first came up here. Who were some of those people that kind of took you under their wing?

Yeah, I think that, I mean, the main one is going to sound kind of cliche, I'd say, but I think a lot of the football captains, especially, were really big, especially my sophomore year when I started playing, actually, and I was just so nervous. Like, I had not played since eighth grade. I had an ACL tear, and I was just honestly kind of freaking out that I was going to have to play. And I was super excited, but I was all super nervous.

And I think a lot of those senior captains, like Cameron Beiswinger, especially, who's playing at Butler now, he was a really big leader to me kind of at the time, and just kind of getting my footing and knowing that I was going to be okay. I think another great leader was in my freshman year, the senior house prefect. At that time, it was Ben Elliott. He was also really great to me, just making me feel welcomed, I would say.

You know, when you first started kind of football, did you always know you would end up playing on the O-line? Or did kind of someone or something inspire you to kind of go that way and play that position? Honestly, it's kind of a funny story. I always wanted to be a tight end.

That was what I always kind of trained for. And then when I got to the upper school and kind of looked around, I saw that I was one of the biggest kids here, and there was no way that they were going to put me in a receiver position. And I think it's, I mean, it's kind of a happy accident, I'd say, because it really is like, I mean, obviously, I'm going to college for it, and I could not be more excited. So I'm really happy where I am now, O-line, D-line.

But yeah, it was not always the point. I think as I've accepted it, I actually really love my position. I think it's amazing. Yeah.

And do you remember your first varsity start for, just varsity playing time for football? Do you remember what it was like going out on a Friday and kind of having those big expectations to play against those bigger guys? Yeah. Oh, my God.

I was so nervous. It was like, I remember just feeling like before the game, I was just like, I honestly couldn't really believe I was doing it. And it might sound kind of funny now. I would say that like it would mean that much.

But I think just as a sophomore. I was feeling really nervous. And I think a really good piece of advice that I was told by Cam Byswinger, actually, and that I've kind of tried to pass on to other starters who are probably younger, is that what's most important when you're kind of going to a contest like that, it may sound kind of silly, but instead of saying, oh, I'm nervous, say, it's not nerves, I'm excited. And like kind of force yourself to smile.

And it sounds like it probably wouldn't work that well. But honestly, that's my method now. And it works incredibly well. Kind of like a fade till you make it approach, I would say.

And that honestly has worked so much. Yeah. You know, looking at pregame, I mean, even before big games like Gilmore last week, where obviously you guys won. Is there any pregame ritual that you have?

Is there anything to kind of either hype you up or get you ready for the kind of grueling O-line position that you're gonna have to go through for the rest of the game? Yeah, I mean, honestly, my biggest thing is honestly listening to kind of, I have a pregame playlist of like songs that I play in a row always. And it's kind of funny. Like I probably started two hours before the game.

And I kind of go through from it starts very chill. And then it gets more and more kind of, I would say upbeat, kind of more insane as you go on. And I'm our O-line coach always says football is not a light switch. It's like a dimmer.

And I kind of agree with that. That's always kind of been my approach that I kind of have to start the day really calm, really chill. And then just as you get closer to the game, try to get more and more pumped up. Because I mean, the worst thing that happens is you get really pumped up like 15 minutes for the game.

And when you run out on the field, your adrenaline is already spent. And you're just like, Oh, what just happened to me? A few times. So I think that that's kind of a big thing that mentally that I like to go through.

Yeah. And you're on an O-line right now. I guess, you know, you had that unfortunate injury, but you're leading a younger O-line and have some of those younger guys who've had to step up into bigger positions. What has it been like kind of being that leader to them?

And what have you kind of tried to instill in them? I mean, I think, I mean, it's going to sound kind of funny. I was absolutely just trying to sort of emulate past leaders that I've seen and kind of trying to lead by example, I think is the biggest thing. Um, nerves.

I would say from my experience and seeing some of these other sophomore starters is always the biggest thing. Just kind of a belief that, Oh, well I'm three years, two years younger than all these guys. Like how can I compete? And I think the biggest thing is just positive support and showing them that they really can compete and that they are good enough.

They're there for a reason. I think that that's probably the biggest thing that I've tried to instill is that you are here for a reason and you're here to compete. And I think, especially on the O-line, having a short memory is really important. You make a mistake, you learn from it and you move on.

That's something that I definitely struggled with in my first couple of games as a sophomore. When I wasn't playing my best. Um, and yeah, that's, that's really what, what I've tried to really instill in that and hopefully creating some future leaders as well. You know, we've kind of already talked about, but you announced to commit to Columbia university for football, which by the way, congratulations.

That's huge. Why Columbia? I mean, what stood out about Columbia and kind of the lions football program that made you say, yes, this is where I really want to be for the next four years. I mean, when I was starting to look at colleges, it's actually, it's kind of funny.

I didn't actually, I hadn't actually decided that I knew I was going to be a football player. I didn't actually, I hadn't actually decided that I knew I was going to be a football player. I knew I wanted to play football in college, probably until the last game of my junior year when, after we kind of lost a playoff game, it was a pretty rough time. I kind of looked around and I saw all these other seniors that were like, obviously very emotional, very sad as I was as well.

And I kind of thought about, I don't want that to kind of be my last experience. I don't want a high school game to be my last time ever playing. And I kind of had a realization that like, I can do this if I really want to. So over the winter, I just really worked hard at becoming kind of the best player I could be.

I gained probably 50 pounds in like five months, which is an experience, but obviously it's worked out really well. And I really love where I am right now. So when I started looking at colleges, I finally kind of started getting myself out there because I really hadn't worked that hard before. I'd been to a few camps, but that's kind of it.

Football is really funny that Twitter is the biggest way to get, the biggest way to get recruited. So I started finally posting on there, contacting coaches and really, I mean, Columbia was probably the first visit I went on. And when I got there, I immediately just kind of felt an energy. Being in a city, it's super different from Cleveland, obviously.

And I really kind of loved that change of pace. I love the stadium and from the, the biggest thing was the coaches. They're super, I don't say like intense, but in a really good way. It's a, it's kind of, it's a vibe that I really enjoy and really mesh with.

And it's a program that historically has not been the best, but since the new coaching staff came in, they actually ended up winning the Ivy league last year. And it was kind of a program that I really bought into and I want to be a part of and just makes me super excited to be there. Yeah. Amazing.

And we'll get back to your equipment in a second, but I just want to touch on, you said you gained 50 pounds and you know, that short amount of time for all the kids who are like, they need to gain weight for their varsity sports. Doesn't have to be football, but they say like, I just can't put on weight. What advice do you have for kind of like putting on weight and getting in the weight room and putting in that work? Yeah.

I mean, the biggest thing is consistency, both in like lifting and eating. I, they probably heard it before, but when people, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine when people say like, Oh, I just can't gain the weight, but scientifically you can gain the weight. If you're eating enough calories that it is over your maintenance level and you're lifting all the time, you are going to be gaining weight. It's not going to be fun, but it can happen.

I remember the biggest thing for me was just like, I mean, you probably talked to any lifter and they're obsessed with it, but like protein, protein, protein, I was probably trying to have, I remember I had one of my athletic trainers for my ACL rehab when I was already trying to put on weight my sophomore year. What he ended up saying was you want to take your weight and multiply it by 1.5 and that's how many grams of protein you should be having a day. So I was having around 300, 350 grams of protein a day, which is a ton. Um, but obviously it worked out really well.

So I don't know how scientific that was, but it worked for me. Yeah. Well, back to Columbia, uh, in your commitment announcement, you thanked your family. Can you touch on a little bit what your family support has meant to you and through the journey, the recruiting journey, um, what it's meant to you?

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think that my parents are really my biggest supporters. I've had a lot of kids say that. Um, my mom, I would say is, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's a successful music fan so much my mom, I would say is very, I would say a little more intense when it comes to sports.

Cause obviously she was a sports, she was at college. She was a college athlete, so she kinda knows what it takes. And she was probably one of my main vote motivators for playing in college. Cause she was one of the ones that, that kind of said to me, cause I had a certain point.

I had to make a decision between football and basketball. And she kind of sat down with me one day and said, you can do this for either word, but you need to decide. And that's what you need to really work on. And that's when I decided football.

So I think that was one of my biggest moments is when she kind of had that. kind of tough love conversation with me but it was amazing and obviously the positive support from both my parents has always been great always supporting me always i mean getting new ways to improve stuff like that driving me to drive me to the gym when i didn't have a license yet and it really means the most and we talked about dedication a lot um on the football field and i think my parents are two of the most dedicated people i know they both they both work jobs and always seem to make time for me so it really means the most you know columbia means living in the heart of new york city so are you kind of excited to experience college life in new york city like have you thought about what you're gonna do and how that's just gonna like a larger part in your college oh yeah i mean i i honestly am like ecstatic i've been to new york twice and um my dad works there a lot so i kind of he sort of explained to me some of the he has some kind of tips and tricks for living there um but yeah i honestly couldn't be more excited i'm a kind of a funny anecdote i'm a huge food guy like i love going to like restaurants or a new kind of hole-in-the-wall place and there is no better place than that than new york and i am like i just have kind of visions sometimes of being like i'll get a tiktok of this amazing restaurant in new york city and i'm like oh wow in in a year from now i'm going to just be able to go drive there with some of my teammates and it just it really makes me incredibly excited and i really think just the opportunities of living in new york just for the future and like connections that i can make is just going to be amazing and obviously playing football there there's going to be no experience like it i'm so excited yeah and obviously columbia is in the ivy league um so academics are a big part of that as well do you have any ideas of what career you might want to go into or looking ahead yeah i mean i've always kind of been interested in a lot of stuff um i'm my two probably favorite things are kind of biology science that kind of stuff as well as kind of um economics in general it's two super random things i used to always say when i was a kid i wanted to be a marine biologist but kind of as i've kind of explored more options i've realized i have so many interests and i think that's kind of why school like columbia spoke to me as well because they have a core curriculum where you have to take a lot of different classes a lot of different subjects and to some people obviously that is not their idea of a good time but for me i actually think it's super interesting and i'm really excited to kind of broaden my horizons a little bit and really see what i really love to do yeah you know looking ahead what do you kind of think will be one of the biggest challenges moving from high school football to college is it maybe the speed or the size and what do you kind of look like hope for for the next four years yeah i mean i mean hoping for obviously just to play as soon as i can and compete with people um i think the biggest thing that i've heard moving to college is that everybody's going to be a little bit more good no matter who you play there is going to be good players everywhere and honestly it might make some people nervous for me that just excites me i think the only way to really get good is to play versus good competition and really i think that's going to be the most fun part of it that every single game is going to be a chance to improve and every single rep that i can take is a chance to kind of push myself and be better especially i know those like freshman sophomore years when you're going up against seniors who have been in the program for four or five years it's just going to be really exciting i think for some people it might make them a little nervous for them i'm the type to i'm the type to always fight that and i'm really excited for it yeah well you know you've gone through the process now but if you go back to the start and maybe even talking to some athletes some younger athletes now who are trying to get recruited for college in any sport do you have any advice that you would want to give those athletes yeah i mean i would say definitely starting earlier was probably one of the biggest things for me um i really didn't start until probably winter of my junior year like i said so i think if you really know that you're interested in it there are always ways that that you can kind of work through that and work to help yourself in college help yourself get noticed um yeah really that's probably my biggest advice if i could go to my past self and tell them i would also say just in high school as well like you only get to play high school sports once and i would say enjoy it as much as you can because sometimes it can you can feel like you're kind of looking towards the future always and that oh like well this season doesn't really matter because i'm gonna play in college and i would say that is absolutely not the right mentality i think having your senior junior years of high school sports can still be some of the most fun you're gonna have playing them you know kind of going back to us you're also the sanders house prefect this year first of all for those who might not know what does kind of being a prefect at us really just mean and what are your responsibilities in that role yeah um it is kind of a funny thing to explain to people so obviously there's 10 houses so getting selected to be a prefect um you are voted on by first your classmates then you give then you write a few essays and submit them and then there's kind of a board of teachers that will interview you which when i first walked in i did not know it was going to be a prefect so i'm going to be a prefect so i'm going to be a 12 person interview and i was a little nervous when i first walked in and saw them kind of surrounding me um but overall it's just it's really kind of the best thing you can do to be in a leadership role um being a mentor to kind of the younger students especially that are in your house and then more fun things like organizing house events stuff like that and then there also is some more serious responsibility with um being on the disciplinary board which kind of leads to you really can't affect people and make some hard decisions and i think it's really important to kind of step into that role and know that like you can't affect people and it's really important to take all those kind of things seriously and it all kind of comes with being a leader and i think i mean so far i really love being a prefect i really love being able to positively impact kind of the house and people in it um and like i said there have been some great leaders in the past that kind of inspired me to be a leader and i think that's probably my biggest hope for being a sanders house prefect is that people can kind of look at me in four years maybe a freshman or a sophomore or junior and say oh that's someone that i really would like to be like and have a positive impact like that person i think that's probably my biggest dream that's it and you mentioned the responsibility of being a prefect means you know the younger students in your house look up to you so how do you approach being a role model for those younger sanders students yeah i mean i've always been a big a big believer in kind of the best leaders lead by example and i would say that's really what i always try to do um just every day when i'm in school in and out of school um is just trying to do what i think is best just for the community and for myself as well and i think that's what rubs off the most because if a leader is saying all this kind of grandiose stuff of we have to be better we have to do this better but they're not really doing it themselves nobody's gonna listen so i think it all starts with showing people hey i'm not going to do anything that i'm not going to tell you to do something that i wouldn't do myself i think that's the biggest help in being a leader you know obviously you're in your senior year so graduation is on the somewhat distant horizon what do you think you'll miss the most about us after you graduate whether it's the people kind of daily routines some of the varsity football team bus rides assemblies in the morning and then you're like oh my god i'm gonna what things do you think you'll really hold on to yeah i mean i think you've probably got this answer before but i mean the community man it's just there really is nothing like it i feel like i'm so close to so many people in my grade that maybe aren't in the same kind of group that i am or maybe not have the exact same interests but i think being able to kind of make those connections so easily at us because they facilitate it so well um is probably going to be the thing i miss most um i mean i think the campus is also i'm gonna miss as well it's beautiful but overall i think kind of also the teacher-student relationships that we have here i mean obviously i'm not really sure yet what it's going to be like in college but i think here there's such an opportunity that teachers are always willing to help you and make connections with you and they are willing to they're always willing to put time aside for you and i think that's just a really important part about kind of growing up and feeling seen and obviously the real world a lot of times is not going to be like that but i think it's something that has always really stuck with me and something that i want to carry on you know we've talked about coaches but obviously you just talked about teachers and kind of some of the who's really been your biggest mentor supporter on the academic side is there any teacher who you really kind of think of when you um went to think in the end of the day yeah i mean i feel like i could almost say it to every single one of my teachers really i mean i would start with my sponsor 100 i'll miss miss formerly miss q now miss strawbridge um she actually came the same year that we did so we kind of she always jokes to our sponsor group that we were all kind of freshmen together and i think kind of almost moving through school and getting more comfortable with her was was really amazing and i think that's something that i'm really looking forward to and she's always been probably my biggest supporter at school um i think teachers wise um i i've always kind of had a stutter my entire life so spanish classes once i started to get more kind of in depth and more experienced in spanish my stutter actually started to come out again after i did a lot of speech therapy and it was always kind of difficult for me especially in upper school um when obviously you had kind of these ap spanish exams and stuff like that that required you to talk very fluently um and senor pacheco last year was just an absolute absent to kind of helping me um she really sat down with me and was always willing to work and speak with me about it and would always meet with me outside of class and gave me extra books to help me learn and she really showed me that even if i might have something that gives me a disadvantage like my stutter if i like work really hard and i care a lot about it there is always something that you can do to improve and that really i mean i've carried that with me through the rest of my life yeah well a lot of younger u.s students as we've talked about look up to you as a model for success in academics athletics and just in leadership what's one piece of advice that you might give to middle schooler or a freshman listening about how to make the most of their u.s experience i mean i would say u.s there's always i would say i mean two things probably there's always people that are willing to help you and there's always things that you can do to kind of enrich your experience i would say like we have so many clubs so many different things that you can do and they're all kind of organized in a way that if you sign up for sort of a lot of activities that most of the time if you really care and you're you can do them all and i would say especially for freshmen kind of coming in freshman year i would say it's hard for everyone everyone's kind of trying to figure out their circles everyone's kind of still figuring out who they are i would say and i think freshman year just kind of immersing yourself in everything that you might even be slightly interested in is probably the most important because there's always going to be people that are willing to help you kind of nurture that passion and stuff like that once you find what you like yeah well i have an interesting question here we're heading into admission season um so can you give maybe your best recruiting pitch an athlete who is also interested in academics i mean you are literally the model of that like came to us which is high academic high athletic and then going to columbia high academic high athletic what's your best kind of selling pitch for you know a student who's looking at the school and as an athlete but also wants to have high academics i mean i i think you really say and you mean us right yeah i think it really is the place where that honestly is the best there are a lot of other kind of private schools in the area that might focus a little more on sports might focus on on academics i think us is the amazing balance of that we have really great sports facilities in general just being out where we are especially for outdoor sports but i mean we have a lot of really talented athletes that are willing to work and i really think us hits the perfect balance of that they're always willing to teachers are i mean my experience are always willing to work around sports schedules and and coaches are always very supportive of continuing to get your school work done and stuff like that there really isn't one that takes precedent over the other you know for maybe gilmore rivalry week football might take a little precedent there but it really is i've always felt so supportive on both sides of the ball there so to speak um and yeah i think us is the perfect balance at least in my experience and we have a lot of really talented athletes in the senior class as well that i think would also agree with me on that yeah well finally one of the things that we always talk about in this show is kind of what motivates people for you when you get up every morning and kind of push yourself in the classroom on the field as a leader and kind of just this your why i mean my why is i would say probably the people around me that have always supported me like my family classmates friends there's always going to be people in your life that have made sacrifices for you and i think that's really what gets me up in the morning is thinking about the amount of sacrifice that people have made for me and that i mean some people it might seem like pressure for me it's just motivation that people are willing to sink so much time into me and my success that i mean it would almost be a disservice to them to not continue that and try to chase my dreams as much as i possibly can and i think that's a really good point i think that's a really good point well griff it's been great having you on the show i thank you so much for taking the time to share your stories and experiences with us and to our listeners thank you so much for tuning in and we'll hope you'll join us next wednesday for the next episode of lead start show thank you very much for having me really appreciate it