Transcript: Mr. Sayre on Showing Up, Serving Others, and Three Straight Trips to States

Good morning and welcome back to Late Start Show. We are here today with head varsity golf coach, upper school learning specialist, and the coach who just led the Preppers to a seventh place finish in their third straight trip to the Division I state championship, Mr. Aaron Sayre. How are you doing today, Coach Sayre?

I'm doing well. Thanks for having me, boys. Yeah, of course. It's great to finally have you on the show.

Well, let's start at the beginning because most US guys only know you from golf coach or from your office here at the upper school. So where'd you grow up? What was a young Mr. Sayre like?

Not like you guys. I grew up in Green. So I went to Green High School, started in Green since second grade. Still am friends with a lot of those guys.

So those high school classmates, I still keep in touch and see regularly about 13 different guys. I played on the baseball team. That was sort of my high school identity. That was probably my only claim to any sort of fame in high school.

I wish I took school a little more serious. I think I went into education to try to inspire the young Aaron in class that did not take advantage of many opportunities in high school and as a student. So my favorite class growing up was gym class. So I was an athlete that looked forward to after school activities and things like that.

But I was not a scholar like you guys. You know, golfing isn't really something that you do at a super young age. It really isn't that soccer type of sport. Did you golf a little as a kid?

When did you start to really get into golf to where you're kind of at this level now? Pretty late. I coached many things before coaching golf. I started coaching girls volleyball, girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball, some track and field.

I never thought about being a golf coach. I brought a lot of coaching experience to golf, but no golf coaching experience. It was in college or just after college where I got more golf experience and just more exposure to the sport so one of my good friends growing up ran and was the director of golf at Roses Run Country Club so I had access to golf more than more than ever at that time so I sort of tried to teach myself the game, took it a little more serious and started playing golf. As you age, you cannot play team sports as much.

So trying to find a baseball game becomes a little more difficult when you're 25, 30 years old. As you age, you tend to start looking for other competitive sports you can do by yourself. Golf was one of those things. So when I talk about the guys I grew up with, we get together now through the game of golf. that's how we socialize that's how we compete we play a couple of competitive rounds each year in the golf season.

But that's, you know, how you age as an athlete you pick a sport you can keep doing and keep doing So that was golf for me. But coaching golf, I was, you know, learning as I go. I have had a lot of support along the way, but my first year before becoming head coach I was just the assistant. So that was sort of a learning experience of how to coach golf.

And you ended up at Ohio State. So walk us through that decision. What did you study at Ohio State? How'd you land on that?

And then was it a straight line towards education? Or did you have some other ideas that you kind of took you towards it? Well, the journey starts actually at the University of Akron. So I was not a very good student in high school.

And when I looked at what are my options after high I sort of just followed my friends to college. Had no idea what I was going to study, no idea what I was going to do there, but that was where my friends were going. I talk about influence with some of my students, and like when you are a teenager in high school, your influence comes from your peers. Thankfully, that's where they were headed, and I just followed them to college.

I didn't have a lot of many financially options. for college. So my first couple of years, I lived at home and went to the University of Akron. So commuted 20 minutes back and forth. That experience just felt like high school to me, going back and staying in your own bedroom, the same as high school.

So my friends and I, a couple of different people, we decided to sort of explore transferring. And Ohio State is just far enough away, I was able to kind of transfer my courses and get started there. And that was my first sort of true college experience living on campus. So that was junior year.

Junior year, I transferred to Ohio State, graduated with a personal finance degree, actually. So it was at the end of my senior year, I was going to graduate with a personal finance degree, realized that I wanted to help people but I didn't want to help them with their finances. I wanted to help them in some other way. So I applied for grad school the fall of that year and went into special education.

So my graduate degree, my master's degree is in special education and that was back at home at the University of Akron. Finances sometimes run your decision-making world. So paying for grad school became difficult. I actually had a grad assistantship that offset my master's degree, but that was at the University of Akron.

So I was back living at home again. You know, let's talk about that first job out of school. You're new to this whole thing. You made that switch.

Where was it? What were you doing? And what do you remember about some of those early first weeks? We get some of the best stories about some early mishaps or just kind of getting your footing down early.

So what were some of those stories for you? My first teaching job? Yeah. So my first teaching job, I was the college and career counselor.

I taught as seniors, and it was sort of like a college readiness class. It was literally what is your year after high school going to look like? And that was at Horizon Science Academy, which is an inner city Cleveland charter school off of East 55th and St. Clair.

So if you think about University School and Horizon Science Academy, those are two different ends of the world. I had never experienced inner city education, but I was there for 11 years. Now, my first experience in that building was totally different and out of body more than anything I've ever experienced. The students and the families that I served needed me, needed teachers and support in a desperate way.

Teaching in inner city, you find that students and families, one of the biggest hurdles in their lives is consistency. Just nothing is ever the same. There are obstacles that come from nowhere. So when you teach inner city, when you coach inner city, it was really important that I was something consistent in their life. that I could show up for them every day, that I never canceled a practice because in their world that happens quite a bit.

So trying to show up as a consistent person, I felt needed in that building in ways that are different than University School. But my first ever job, and it continued my second year, I went into special education, but my first 11 years were in inner city Cleveland charter school called Horizon Science Academy. Now for the big turn, you know, you were eventually athletic director, even an assistant principal at Horizon Science Academy. And then 2022, you came to US as a learning specialist.

So kind of how did US get on your radar? How did you make that decision to switch and what were some of the motivators? Yeah, so I never thought I would leave inner city education When I interviewed here I went home and told my wife about the day like an amazing place And I said I have no idea who these students are and what this community is I had never heard of University School. I had no exposure to private education.

I had no exposure to single sex education. I was blown away. I first interviewed at the middle school and then interviewed at the high school. I could have been placed at the middle school and not met you guys at all and probably not coach sports.

But when I went home, I told my wife, I said, I don't think I can fit there. I don't know how I would even support this community. I don't know if this community even needs support, not like the work I was doing. And it was my father-in-law that said, Aaron, you better take this opportunity serious. this could change your trajectory.

This could be somewhere, this could be your last job. This could be somewhere where your boys go to school. So it was after kind of having that conversation, you know, and getting a job offer that I really considered leaving inner city for University School. But I didn't have much exposure to it.

And I was just sort of blown away, but I didn't know how it would fit. You know, for our listeners who haven't had the experience that I've gone to, luckily have, what does it look like sitting in your office, getting some work done, going to Guide Study Hall? What does your job look like for the kids who need it? And for some of the kids who don't need it as much, what does it look like on that side?

Well, the nice part about my job is I am in a supportive role. I work in the library and learning services. It is a corner of the building that is designed to support students. When you work in a supportive role for boys, and we all do, but specifically for me, it becomes really easy to create relationships with boys, really positive supportive relationships with boys.

I never had to grade you. I never had to create assignments for you. And when you work one on small group, maybe one on three, you don't usually have to discipline many boys. So you are just walking alongside them, you know.

So when students come in from into my office, they need help. They need study tips. They need tools. I can partner in that.

I can support them where they are. You know, what's interesting about the boys that I work with and students that walk into my office, usually boys don't walk into my office and say, I got four A's today and I'm doing really well. Quite the opposite. A lot of times boys will walk into my office and say, Mr.

Sayre, I need help with this. I need support in this. I'm struggling in this class. So I try to meet boys where they are and that's often where they are.

I work with some struggling students on various different topics and my job is to support them in their journey. That leads to deep relationships and a rewarding experience, but the day-to-day is always different. So the boy is always different. The class is always different.

Keeps me on my toes and it's a great way to interact with the student. Now there's AI in the picture. So some boys could see that as kind of their way of support and kind of skip this human relationship that you talked about building. So what is the value in your eyes of having a human there to actually like build a relationship and support the boy instead of just them getting on their computer?

Well, AI is a tool that you need to be able to interact with in a positive way. You have to use it and know how to use it as a tool. It is a slippery slope in that you can have an abusive relationship with AI and skip that human relationship. You can skip that teacher meeting. and you can skip that interaction with a tutor or support in your life and just rely on that.

I think as a learning specialist, you try to guide that process and be helpful in the ways that they create study guides for themselves, that they use AI for reading comprehension checks, using AI to help you get started writing an outline for a paper. But the slippery slope is that with the click of a button and the wrong command, it can finish that assignment completely for you. So I think, you know, learning specialists, teachers, and guidance counselors can support boys in how they use that tool. It's not going away.

It's something that all students and teachers in our school building has had to make tough decisions on and how to interact with. But I think you can't avoid that. And the relationship between yourself and AI as a tool is a needed one and guidance there is needed. You know, let's get to golf at US.

You joined the program, as you said earlier, as an assistant coach in 2023. How did that happen? did someone come ask you to kind of join and then becoming the head coach what were some of your thoughts during that moment, and how did you kind of want to lead the team for the much, much longer future? You know, I had an interest in golf. I think when Mrs.

Coy introduced me as a new staff member i remember this moment in the auditorium she said i think i found the next golf coach. And I was like, I don't know about that. Later that spring, Mr. Chris Perry, the athletic director, talked about like, what would you like your role to be in this program?

Would you like to take this serious? I was originally going to coach JV golf instead of the year where I was assistant to the varsity coach. So I was going to be the JV golf coach. And the spring of that year, I was getting familiar with some of the players and helping run some of the simulator sessions.

And I was set up to be the JV golf coach. So Mike Saris was the head coach at the time. And that year, Mike's full-time job at Sand Ridge as assistant pro turned into head pro. And his time availability shrunk.

So I needed to step into an assistant varsity coach role to offset some of his availability. I was learning as much from the players as they were learning from me. Golf days are long. You're six hours out on the course.

Sometimes you're giving swing advice. Sometimes, as a coach, you're just making sure boys are hydrated. So that year, as assistant coach, I'm literally just kind of learning on the fly. but through Mike's limited availability, I was around quite a bit, interacting with the guys and trying to learn how to lead the team. At the end of that year, people would ask me, would you ever want to take over for head coach?

And I was like, I don't think so. I don't have that kind of availability, and I don't think I offer what Mike does to the program. But in the back of my mind, I never let timing with career and opportunity kind of interfere with like what is next. The head coach position became available and I wanted to make sure that the wrong person didn't get it.

I knew what I could do for the program and if I ran it my way I had a lot of different coaching experience. So I had a group of who were then juniors returning for their senior year they were trying to get over the hump of getting to the state tournament and I knew that the next head coach would be really valuable to them in that into that year and I didn't want it to go to the wrong person and I started building relationships with those guys and I wanted to make sure that their senior year they had the best chance and the best opportunity so initially I didn't think I would ever be the head coach I didn't really have an interest in it, but I made sure that those boys were taken care of. I didn't want it to go to the wrong person Well, now let's get into this season. You know, building off recent success in the last couple years, in August you got Nate Chege as your senior captain a strong mix of guys You have strong senior leadership, also juniors with Eddie and Carter coming back.

What honestly did you see this team being and what goals did you guys set as a group for this year? So going into this year, you know, this year started at the end of last season. At the end of last season, I named Nate captain, and our offseason began in November. We are fortunate to have two indoor simulators at the Federer Center on the athletic wing, so we were starting to prepare for what was just yesterday in the months of November.

And Nate really set a tone this offseason that our offseason was going to be more serious. It was going to look different. So for the first time, the golf team was in the weight room. For the first time, the golf team in the months of November, December, January, we had weekly simulator sessions led by and partnered with a PGA professional from The Country Club, which is a local club right down the street.

So our offseason, Nate, set a really good tone as captain and sort of rallied the program from top to bottom. We had fabulous attendance in the weight room during simulator sessions. And as soon as April hit, we set up captain's practices several days a month to give guys an opportunity to grow and develop. And Nate was at all of those as well.

So coming into this golf season, which we had just had a really good off season, And guys were playing summer tournaments in the months of June and July. And we were coming off two years of recent success making the state tournament. We had our eyes on returning to the state tournament, which means to get to the state tournament, you have to go top four in our district. Our district qualifies four teams.

That was definitely a goal. another goal was to be able to compete and play elite tournaments throughout the regular season on championship level golf courses and not just be there and be one of the teams but compete with them go top three in those tournaments, go top five in those tournaments at really challenging golf courses how do we stack up against elite fields so our regular season schedule we knew ahead of time was going to be really competitive, really tough, and it was going to serve a great purpose for us down the stretch. So the goals that we talked about were challenging golf courses, a competitive schedule, and getting back to states. And could we go top three, top five? Could we improve in our standings from last year?

So those were the things that we talked about in early August, and those were the goals for the season. Now, you write these detailed recaps after big tournaments, almost kind of like chapters of a book. Why do you take the time to write them and what value do you see? Are you writing them for the players, the parents, for yourself?

Yeah, golf is unique in that we play during the school day. We play during the work day. So a lot of times you guys as peers and classmates to the golf team, and a lot of times parents don't have the opportunity to go. It's not Friday night lights and you fill the bleachers and watch the team.

So it started out of building sort of an awareness of what's going on, sharing the details of tournament notes with parents and players and telling a story of golf and golf at University School. Golf can kind of be in the shadows of fall sports, and we are a really competitive team that has had a lot of success. So just sharing that story with the community I think is valuable and then just allowing parents to kind of see what's going on when we're out there. I try to take some notes during the round and highlight different holes from each player.

But every tournament we play, there's some story to tell. there are highs and lows and we're out there for five six hours so I've enjoyed capturing those moments and being able to reflect on those tournaments and sharing those with the community you know we're on our third straight trip third straight trip back to states under you after the program had gone on a drought from 2017 to 2024 what do you think actually changed and how much credit you give to the kids versus the culture that really surrounds them coaches can take credit for the wins and oftentimes take blame for the losses. The first team I ever coached I told them at the end of the year like you guys probably would have made the state tournament with anybody as coach. They were extremely talented. My job only that year was to try to bring them together a little bit as a team.

They were fantastic individual golfers. I had very little to do with that team's success. They were on the cusp of making the state tournament for several years in a row. The credit goes to that roster, which was super talented and deep.

In my second year, we recycled the roster quite a bit, but the schedule was in place, and those guys, that's when Nate's a junior, Bennett is the captain, and Carter and Eddie are rising sophomores with a lot of talent. You have to have really talented players first, so I don't hit any of the shots. Bill O'Neill, Doc O'Neill, who is a legend in the golf world and the golf program used to run the school as well who has three state championship rings he'll tell everyone that he talks to I didn't hit any of those shots so the players hit the shots they earn those scores and those results as a coach I think I try to put together the schedule that will test them throughout the year and that will prepare them and get them ready golf is unique you never know what's going to happen the day of districts and the day of the state tournament so coaches can almost sit in the pro shop and just watch and and that's all you can do to affect the results a little bit of me wants to take credit for some of this, but it's the players that have earned the state tournament appearances over the years. So now that this season is over, you can transition back to being a husband and a dad.

And actually, in your last recap, you talked about that. So you have a young family. So first of all, if you talk about kind of what you're looking forward to now that you have some time to spend their family and also how having young boys and kids has impacted the way you work with boys on the golf team and in the office, in the classroom? I'll just start by saying like behind every strong coach is a strong partner.

For me, that is my wife. She's responsible for a lot during the fall. She's always responsible for the morning routine But after golf season, I'm usually the person picking up kids after school and in charge of the after school routine. During the months of July, August, and September, and October, that's totally her.

So I wouldn't be able to pour into the boys and into the team without her support. It's important, guys, to pick a good partner of life. It makes your life more filling, but you can do a whole lot more when you have support around you. Being dad I guess evolves the way you coach I see you know some of my players in my own kiddos So you know I coach six golfers throughout the day and then go home to have four kids Sometimes I have the energy left at home and sometimes I don't.

But for the last three years my wife and family has been able to join us at the state tournament this year's tournament, and in 2024 was in Dayton, which is a little over three hours. And my wife drives the kids down. They get to ride around in the golf cart. They just want to go on vacation which they think is just the hotel swimming pool.

So they enjoy it. But the night of, you know, the state tournament, we're in one hotel room, two queen beds, and I'm sleeping with my seven-year-old daughter and my five-year-old son my wife's sleeping with the three-year-old son and and a pack and play is a 10-month-old baby and that's the day before, the night before the state tournament begins. But that family experience makes it worth it for me. I spend a lot of time away from them during the season, so when they can join me and be part of that experience, it's kind of like bring your kids to work.

Not everyone can allow their family to be involved with their work life. Part of my work life is my golf life, and when my kids can join me and be part of the team and the family, that makes it worthwhile. When you think about five or ten years ahead, what do you want the golf program at US to look like? Do you expect your sons to be on that golf program?

And what kind of reputation do you want to have around Ohio? It's interesting. I've always been one to fast forward my life and think through what's it going to look like next year? What's it going to look like in five years, in ten years?

I try to slow down now that I have kids and not try to fast forward too much. You know, I think the boys ask me all the time, how do you get invited to tournaments? And I said to them, you know, sometimes you have to be a really talented team. You want to invite elite teams to compete with.

Sometimes it comes down to who do you want to play with. Other teams host tournaments, and it's sometimes invite only, and you want to be on that invite list. Well, what goes a long way at the end of a tournament is you go up to the coach, the opposing coach, the host coach after the round, and you shake their hand, and you say, thank you for allowing us to play. Thank you for the invitation.

You could shoot 72 that day or 92 that day, but you build a relationship with your opposing players throughout a golf round, and you build a relationship with opposing coaches. That goes a long way of what do you, you know, how do you build out a program? So when you ask me, what do you want this team to be known for? That's a big part of it.

To be respectable young men on the golf course, to represent the program and the team, hopefully we'll be successful. We have a lot of talent that comes through this building. over the last couple of years, we've tried to keep more boys in the program to develop them all the time. There are random upperclassmen here that tell me their golf scores, and they're pretty darn good. And I think like, why aren't you on the golf team?

It's like, oh, well, I'm not varsity A good. I'm not that good. And I think you probably could have been if you started on the golf team in ninth grade and 10th grade and developed throughout the years. And that goes back to the middle school years.

So over the last couple of years, I've tried to hire more coaches to give more boys roster spots. And I think if you're asking me, like, how do you build out the program is I think that's something you increase roster spots, you increase roster depth, you make sure that the schedule promotes development in the golf season and in the off season. I coach some talented golfers. Usually we have a head start on all opposing teams.

We come in really talented. But I want to give a young guy, a beginner level golfer, an opportunity to develop along the way. That starts in middle school. That starts in ninth grade.

That starts by making sure that they're in the program long term. Mr. Sayre, you've worked with boys as a coach, administrator, learning specialist. So when all is said and done, what do you want people at University School and those you used to teach at Horizon Science Academy to remember about Mr.

Sayre? I think it revolves around my family. It's why I try to keep my family close to my work. You know, my five-year-old's right around the corner outside.

It's cool that he gets to ride the shuttle from the Shaker Campus up to Hunting Valley and give high fives to some of you big guys. with his senior buddies in the hallway and people start to learn his name. So I think I'm a pretty family oriented person. I try to keep that theme of family on the teams that I coach with the students that I work with. I prioritize a very short list of things in my life to make sure I'm focused on the things that I really care about.

And that's my family. So I cherish having summers available. People ask me, like, why don't you do a summer camp, you know, take the team out in the summer. And my job in the summer is to be at home with the four kids.

So that's my favorite month, you know, those June and July months where we could be on the golf course preparing. And instead of golf preseason, you know, I'm probably at the Metro parks or I'm probably taking my family to the children's center. So that is where I spend my time and my most important role in life is just kind of dad and husband. You know, Coach, this question that we always end on, you built your career at Horizon coaching everything from basketball and volleyball to baseball and track while also running the athletic department and serving as assistant principal.

Then you came to US to sit one-on-one with boys as a learning specialist, and then spent years as an assistant watching this golf team miss state by just a single spot, and then took that same program to three state tournaments, and then watched the captain, Nate, go write the ending, finish tied for sixth in Ohio. Then you went home, as you said before, to being a husband and a dad. So when the alarm goes off before those early tee times, and your house is still asleep, what is your why? What gets you out of bed in the morning and keeps you going day after day?

Yeah, I think my why revolves around everyone else. I think my leadership style and coaching style is more of like a servant leader. You try to create opportunities for someone else to go fulfill. So when I'm building up this golf schedule, I'm trying to create the best high school golf experience for that team.

I think that's how I am a husband and try to be a father to serve my wife and my kids. My why, and a lot of teachers and coaches are like this, revolves around creating for someone else, making sure that their goals are fulfilled. I take a team full of guys, and they all have different needs and wants and goals. Some want to grind on the driving range, and some want to play for fun.

You try to create an experience for each of them. So I think putting someone else's needs and goals and preferences ahead of mine is something that comes naturally for me. So when I answer why questions, it's sort of like for them, for the team, for my family. it's fun for me too. Don't get me wrong.

But I think my why revolves around everyone else. Well, Mr. Sayre, it's been great having you on the show today. Thank you so much for taking the time to share insights 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 on another episode of the Late Start Show. Thank you, Mr. Sayre.

Thank you, boys.