Interview with Goose Creek Memorial Head Football Coach Daniel Ragsdale

[Music] all right it's media day we are diving into one of our last two districts 236a I'm talking to Goose Creek Memorial head coach Daniel Ragsdale who jumps up from 5A to 6A and gets rewarded with the District of Doom or whatever you want to call the District of teams District of teams that go three to four rounds deep every single year that makes the playoffs coach and and you're coming off of a year where you went one to n and you're a younger Squad you had a lot of graduation in there too man taking all this in you you knew you're going up to 6A you probably knew had an idea where you were going to go but when realignment came out and you saw where you're headed you told me off camera you're kind of excited talk to me a little bit about your your initial reaction to your new District initial reaction was just like everybody else's reaction it's it's just like um you know when you're uh you're you're kind of hoping you're like you're anticipating going up but then you're say okay the reality is um the last time GCM went up they were in a district at Northshore and that's because I was there you know right so right so that's probably not going to change the the biggest difference is now you add Umble to the mix and uh and you add C King to the mix of course and it makes a little bit different animal how things have grown on that side so um initially it was a little bit of a shock but I mean when you when you step back can look at it uh from my perspective because I because I get to do that um our kids have been competing against you know these teams right here on the east side from the Middle School up yeah you know what I'm saying and with the group that we have right now this young group coming up um they don't have any fear in them I mean they're a little bit different than some of the other groups I've I've been around um that would probably shy away from it you know what I'm saying um so they're embracing it so you don't have a choice but to embrace it if they're taking that kind attitude so they're excited I'm excited um you know the new District new challenges um you know they're excited I think the biggest part that they're excited about is um I know a lot of kids don't see it this way and I know a lot of coaches don't see it this way but um these kids are excited about being able to play against some of the best talent uh that you can possibly play against they're excited about that that excites him um and I'm I'm excited right there with them going to say if if anything if anything you take out of the Year regardless of what the record ends up being they can always go on and say hey we played against the best talent that not only the Houston had the state of Texas has out there and they'll be able to pinpoint a couple two three of these players and say Hey you saw them on Sunday youngster when they start having kids well I played him on Friday so don't worry about that let's let's talk about your squad for a little bit I don't you know we can juggle two turns a rebuilding year or youth movement I think you'd probably prefer maybe youth movement because you don't ever really want to rebuild you want to you want to keep competing all the time it's not necessarily rebuild it's building I mean because I mean like I say our our our young group and I said tell everybody this our our promises in our youth the these young kids are different you know um and it's kind of like you said I mean regardless of what uh the record might end up being they're going to be better for it because they're growing up you know when you when you grow up amongst lons um you'll find out if you're a jackler or not real quick you know I like that're they're a they're a group and I feel like they're young Lions I think they're ready for it you know what I'm saying they feel good about you know playing uh some of these other some of these other uh districts when in their youth when they were in middle school and coming up um they don't have any fear about it and neither do I I feel good about them if I have a concern about them it's because they are so young you know what I'm saying we have a bunch of Juniors and seniors we're gonna I'm sorry Juniors and sophomores we're gonna thr them and I got have to grow up um you know some places have the luxury of keeping them down and we don't you know our numbers our numbers just don't aren't like that yet it'll get there we'll be where uh so let's talk about where your eyes go as far when you look at the spring practices and you know you got practices coming up where do your eyes go as far as okay I'm I'm happy with right here I I like what I got right here people don't know about these kids maybe but this is what I like where where do your eyes go there well I I think that in a in a general standpoint it it goes to um this is the first year that I've been here that we have true depth at the quarterback position now they're all young they're all young um but we have three to four guys that are playing that position now that that it creates competition amongst them uh and they're excelling because of the competition amongst them you know what I'm saying um we've not had that here it's it's either you got one and if he don't perform then there's nobody else you know what I'm saying now you got three or four guys that are all competing for a spot and it's it just brings out the best in in each one of them um our receiver positions are are more stacked of course like I said they're all basically offensive they're all sophomores right um we have a couple of Juniors mixed in there and they're they're going to be okay um but the the good part about the the whole mix of it is it works because our youth is extremely excitable and they mix well with the with the group of talent that's ahead of them you know what I'm saying uh kids like Matthew Thomas and and Kaden exal and and uh at those skill positions along with some of the other Juniors that we're bringing back we're going to be just fine in terms of that they just got to grow up you know um but like I said and I I talked to them the other day I mean there's no better place to grow up than where you're gonna grow up yeah you want to be good then let's let's let's let's let's get good get as good as them because the reality this is this is if from a coaching standpoint we get we get where we need to be um and it's like you said earlier um the fourth place team in this District win three rounds right so if you find a way play a way to beat the fourth place team no matter who you are maybe us on Chanel you whoever it is chances are you're gonna do really good in the playoffs yeah exactly so exactly and you mentioned sophomore and Junior a lot the best thing about sophomore and Junior is they're going to be Junior and senior at some point so you are going to get that experience now when these practices start up uh and and when this AAS the practice have already started uh where where are you kind of patrolling around looking for somebody to jump up and and become a leader in a position where maybe you're a little bit nervous like I'm I'm not quite sure who's going to who's going to be that guy where are you going to keep your eyes on for these couple weeks before the season starts it's still still a quarterback still a quarterback still quter yeah still a quarterback on the offens side the ball I think that um when you're right at that position it makes a lot of other things right um to be honest with you I mean I've been in some situations like I said where it was not you know you didn't have that competition there to to bring out yeah the the best version of somebody and all of a sudden you're kind of dealing with a guy that's that's not really ready for it but but he has to be ready in the moment um now you're keeping ey on that position and how they're pushing each other and how they're progressing and things like that because you know that if you get it right at that position um it's not that it can cover up everything else but it make it can have a potential of making everything else right you know on the defens side of the ball I think that I'm keeping my eye mostly on the safety position I mean um you know how we come down how we strike um how we able to to to get on the perimeter and run the ball uh from that position is going to be in my mind a big deal going into the district we're going into now finally you got you have three District game or non-district games before you hit District play who Do you got in those games and what do you hope to get out of them going into this District of Doom well um um it's more the same here um they they they they told me that we need to keep this whole Baytown rivalry thing going and uh that's what we're going to do the first two games so we got Sterling game one we got uh Baytown League game two and then game three we have Clearbrook um which um you'll be I think it'll be three games for us to get our feet under us and and uh going into that first d game against Kingwood figure out what you got I got you you got man perfect hey good luck to you we'll be out to see you at least once once or twice this year I appreciate you joining me Coach man and good luck when it comes when the season comes around which is only a couple weeks I know it man it's coming isn't it it is thanks a lot down here with no breaks baby thanks a lot coach I appreciate it you have a good one