Off Duty Ads

The Off Duty ADs talk about difficult discussions with parents.  Ryan wants to find the underlying goal of angry parent meetings, reminds us that all parents use the "fear of retribution" excuse, and considers reviving his cow bingo event; Mike limits parent discussions to just the one target topic, likes Covey's advice to agree to disagree agreeably, and may have single-handedly forced Urban into retirement; Mark tries to give parents the perspective of meeting all kids' needs, makes sure to humanize his coaches, and knows that he messed up a movie quote last week.  

The Off Duty ADs answer some listener emails then continue discussing end of season coaches' meetings.  Ryan knows that coaches and kids need to have similar expectations, monitors whether his coaches have hit a ceiling, and points out that the size of the roster and effectiveness of instruction aren't necessarily related; Mike responds to last week's criticism, comments that competitive success and relationship building must be built together, and purchases from vendors who have positive relationships with our organizations; Mark questions the term "Des Moines big", allows his coaches to control the philosophies of their programs but holds them accountable for their philosophies, needs to start writing again, and can't keep Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids straight.

The Off Duty ADs talk about philosophy and procedure for cutting athletes after half an episode of college football talk.  Mike might be lost somewhere in Colorado; Ryan doesn't quite hate Tom Cruise, taunts his son, marks all of his emails as important, relates cutting to riding a carousel, and speculates that most kids probably don't travel an aggressive math circuit; Mark finally gloats about the Irish but hopes for playoff chaos, relates cutting to AP course offerings, struggles to balance meaningful reps vs. ability to represent your school, and still hates the word investment within sports.

The Off Duty ADs continue their conversation about end of season meetings with coaches.  Ryan misses today's episode in order to attend an emergency meeting of Cleveland Browns fans.  Mike has an opinion about Nebraska football, recognizes that great coaches never stop learning or improving, disagrees with Mark about parent surveys, and keeps working to make things better for kids.  Mark leans heavily on student survey results, tries to find things to talk about with his high flying coaches, disagrees with Mike about parent surveys, and had half of his family get sent home early from school.  

The Off Duty ADs discuss end of season coaches' meetings.  Ryan takes the servant leader approach with tough coaches, teaches the guys a new order for coach meetings, and still has hopes for his Browns to get to seven wins; Mike questions coaches who don't want to grow, tries to communicate cultural changes to his tenured coaches, and loves the mmmmmmm bop Hanson brothers; Mark doesn't want to coach a group of clones, relates coach communication to plane crashes, and taught his two-year-old an important life lesson.

The Off Duty ADs bounce around some legal discussions. Ryan finds his Cleveland fandom to be repetitive, points out that state association membership is voluntary, and talks attractive nuisance and foreseeable dangers; Mike gets his legal knowledge from LA Law and The Good Wife, reminds his colleagues that what's best for kids should always come first, and hates small beer glasses; and Mark avoids Notre Dame talk while cautiously liking the changes of the NBA G League, leans on the idea of HS athletic participation being a privilege instead of a right, and spends some hours on the eligibility of someone else's student.

The Off Duty ADs answer listeners' questions.  They try to balance an open door policy vs. hosting an open forum, discuss perceptions of freshmen participation, middle school programs, feeder programs, and where cutting fits into high school teams, and they discuss the structure and perception of private schools in public leagues.  For added entertainment, Ryan mourns the Ohio sports scene, Mike has audio problems and avoids a drag race, and Mark finished his late Autumn winter.

The Off Duty ADs talk about club sports vs. educationally based athletics.  Joe loves his Cougars, sees problems with residency and competition, and questions club competition overlaps; Mike finds college football to be cliche, is concerned that HS sports are also becoming the haves and have-nots, and believes that a good experience is the best recruiting pitch; Mark  waits for the Irish letdown, thinks parents can screw their own kids up, and uses percentages to describe parents; and Ryan runs a marathon.

The Off Duty ADs talk about under-performing coaches and are joined by Joe from WA; Ryan sees the return of the factory of sadness, reinforces his message at parent meetings, and recognizes the danger in turning over coaches; Mike sees the Sox reach 100, rants about early arrivals, and wants to discuss growth vs. performance; Mark still doesn't want to talk about the Cubs, tries to separate success from competitive success, and analyzes skeletons; and Joe gives us a movie, a beer, and some sage wisdom.

The Off Duty ADs talk about current issues; Ryan defends his fandom against his own son, talks about lower participation numbers, and sees the growing gap between good and not good teams; Mike finds similarities between Bilbo Baggins and the Browns, recognizes the end of exploratory sports, and gives us a biology lesson; Mark's Tiger and Cubs comments made more sense during recording last week, blames social media for our lack of loyalty, and knows the effects on parents of a busy sports schedule.

The Off Duty ADs talk about running a highly visible department and do some live fish research; Ryan lives in a factory of sadness because of the Browns, talks about the timeline of problem-solving, and ups his shoe game; Mike calls out the early NFL tankers, happily trades the cons of his job for the challenges, and learns what a sculpin is; Mark doesn't want to talk about the Cubs right now, knows that 2% of a budget equals 90% of the ink, and pays for everyone's credit card charges.  

The Off Duty ADs talk about ethics and personnel; Ryan doesn't accept "I don't know" as an answer, contemplates what's a fireable offense, and moves us away from a beer review; Mike gloats about the White Sox winning streak, relates sports' issues to society in general, and uses DNA testing to approve vendors; Mark questions the mission statements of major college athletics, feels a responsibility to build better coaches, and talks about the importance of merchandising.

The Off Duty ADs start vaguely talking about game management but finish with game workers; Ryan watches everyone except the Indians play live baseball, crosses his fingers to get his scoreboards to work, and has to fill his own rabbit holes despite having an abundance of workers; Mike thinks Fenway and Wrigley are dumps compared to Kinnick, tries to avoid Mr. Murphy during his seasons, and gets back to football comedy basics with Necessary Roughness; Mark waxes poetic about athletic venues in North Dakota, hopes to end his missing flag streak this year, and finds a great brew from a purple dinosaur.

The Off Duty ADs discuss Core Values by disguising it as a discussion about professional development; Ryan brought back Greg Oden, hypes purpose instead of objectives, and finds inspiration on the back of a famous horse; Mike suffered through a Brazilian winter, wants to compete with opponents instead of against them, and comes up with a new t-shirt slogan; Mark just missed live-casting a walk-off grand slam, solves winter problems in the summer, and wants his coaches to focus on core values.

The Off Duty ADs weren't off duty enough to record a podcast this week.  Take a couple minutes to check out Ticket Spicket, Coach Evaluator, and Fantag.  You can also head over to youthsportsstuff.com to catch up some reading.  We'll be back again next week!

The Off Duty ADs talk about using fundraising dollars; Ryan is passionate about the current state of youth soccer, runs a shell game to raise money for his department, and enjoys the Edmund Fitzgerald porter from the Great Lakes Brewing Company; Mike says boo on you to USA soccer, dances around today's main topic, and gives a shout out to his maintenance crew; Mark gives a brief history lesson about elite youth athletics in the US, turns down a big donation, and should have been a farmer. 

The Off Duty ADs talk about various methods of fundraising; Ryan finishes his World Cup commentary, hypes the benefits of service-based projects, and has nothing to say to the media; Mike considers the bang for the buck in fundraising, wants to visit Sweden, and loves the Little Giants; Mark sold light bulbs and candles as a kid, apparently doesn't know the difference between fire extinguishers and fire hydrants, and needs a recommendation for a brewery in Indianapolis.

The Off Duty ADs talk about the National Anthem; Ryan appreciates his Athletic Trainers, has heard the anthem a million times, and loves the WWE; Mike namedrops his ties to USA Football, previews a tap staple from Colorado, and wants to have tough conversations; Mark knows the dangers of junior high tennis, thinks the "why" is more important than the "what," and answers all sports-related calls in town.  Also, the guys all love America.

The Off Duty ADs talk about the effect of socioeconomics on youth sports; Ryan finds the positive in high sports club fees, wants high school coaches who are active in youth clubs, and loves a good kitten slumber party; Mike hypes the bargain of school-based sports, gives advice about dealing with habitual drop-ins, and does some math; Mark fixes college sports in under 9 minutes, relates character-based athletics to tax dollars, and supports the Kumite.

The Off Duty ADs talk about over-parenting in youth sports; Ryan supports Russia, is concerned that kids today are losing their voices, serves as his district's mailman, and may need his wife to apply a shock collar on him; Mike imagines a conversation between LaVar Ball and Gregg Popovich, poses a tough parenting question to Ryan and Mark, and gives permission to younger ADs to use their vacation time; Mark lives the lake life with PBR, wonders why people ask ADs questions when they won't trust the answers anyway, and may have wrecked his 12-year-old's recruiting profile.