E257: University of Cal Defensive Backs Coach Terrence Brown Jr. on football and the game of life.

Introduction and Background hello and welcome to a new episode of I can do I'm Benjamin Lee wherever you're listening thank you so much for uh giving this podcast your time and uh really looking forward to this conversation we have another fantastic guest on the show today coach Terren Brown is on the show with us coach how are you doing I appreciate your time B I'm I'm doing well I'm doing well it's a summertime so it's just vacation time and yeah you know trying to get a chance to De debrief before season gets into all the hecticness and uh just staying busy at all times so just enjoying some of this downtime yeah absolutely well I really appreciate you being on the show uh should I call you coach or Terrence or how do you want to be referred to uh yeah Terrence is fine yeah Terence like I feel like you call me coach I feel like I'm talking to one of my players or talking to a recruit and I'm talking to their parents or whoever it may be so teren yeah yeah that's right well I'll tell you what man um so so Terrence is a defensive back coach at the University of Cal and you've been there since 2022 and uh really impressive resume I will tell you what though you know I'm 45 I have slowed down quite a bit but I still do hit training I work out and uh you got me fired up I wish I could say that I had a good history playing football in high school I did not I had a hard time putting the pads and my getting them situated in the pants and things like that in the seventh and eighth grade I got hit in the throat one time in one of the games I was like I don't know if this is gonna work so I ended up being in the marching band wishing I was out there playing football but uh but you got me you got me fired up today well you you probably probably saved yourself from a decent you don't have to worry about trying to remember what what you did yesterday yeah that's right that's right have to do a decent amount of time my wife gets so frustrated with me she's like man you you can't remember anything I'm like baby I'm sorry try to my head not to my heart that's right well we we love football uh one of the things my wife Nikki we were just talking about family and uh we met in 2003 actually in Syracuse New York we were at a a church of v it was called a campaign for Christ uh and her her maiden name was Benjamin so I said hey let's just go ahead and get married but it didn't go exact like that but but she when I met her she was into football and I was like I cannot believe this so her dad has always been a big dolphins fan because she grew up in Florida and so you know we would just talk and I was like this is unbelievable we can have a conversation you know and uh so that that was something that was um really awesome and uh meeting her and my son Josh we love uh you know we love watching football on Sundays and it's obviously expanding with I remember remember growing up Monday Night Football you know with Al and Frank and um you know those guys that was like the Early Years and Introduction to Football big thing and now it's it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and I love to you know kind of pick your brain with that a little bit more but um if you can I'd love to hear your story of your journey to football and how now you've been coaching in in the college ranks for a number of years how how did all this get started yeah I mean I if I could be honest with you it's all credit to God you know I I wouldn't be in the position that I'm in without him gifting me with the the talents and the the gifts the abilities to you know one to to play the game uh but but to uh to understand it um to carry me on for years and um it really was Spirit headed by my father so I'm the I'm the oldest of two um my father name is Terence Brown senior so I'm the junior um my mother's name is Christina Brown and my brother's name is uh is Christopher Brown and so in our household um it ran like this it was faith it was family and it was every extracurricular activity that came after that uh my father is a pastor he's been a pastor for I want to say see I'm 30 I'm 33 so he's been a I want to say he's been a past for about 30 years um so somewhere around that um that time frame and so Faith was priority number one um you know we our Sundays our Tuesdays our Wednesdays our Thursdays uh were dedicated uh to you know spending quality time um you know developing a relationship with God and and as every other day was but those those days in particular uh family I come from a titn family I just said only it's only two of us um in terms of um siblings but I come from a big family of cousins my mom one of eight and my dad was one of three but on my mom's side of the family I think I have close to 50 plus first cousins and so uh growing up my friends my teammates were my cousins from ball to track to baseball um you know that's where a lot of my time was spent at the church practice um and with my with my family and so uh my dad you know found found out that we I guess we athletically gifted enough to to do something um and you know football came n you know natural came easy um it was it was something that I did um you know fairly fairly easy to be honest with you I understood the game played multiple positions growing up um and actually was playing quarterback in po Corner football after getting used to contact playing my father started me playing on the off offensive line so I played tight end tackle oh nice and I was one of the smaller guys on on the team but it was you know with the intent of getting used to you know the physical contact uh part of the game because I didn't play flag football I just went straight into tackle football at the age of seven nice so and it was after you know maybe a few years happen to be you know one of the better players on the team and um really committed to I guess mastering the craft of playing the game of football um so in an extra time when I wasn't you know at Crow rehearsal when I wasn't you know doing homework or working on a science fair project or whatever it may be my extracurricular time it was spent at the park nice or in my grandmother's backyard you know really working to master my craft at a young age and this was before all these like personal trainers like started to come about you know over the years this was just literally homegrown teaching um and I had some family friends that had played played football at a at a high level that would always provide me with little pointers and tips here and there um but it was I would say around 10 11 years old where I came to understanding that this is what I wanted to do and I think that's where my mind shifted to okay how can I get an opportunity to further my education all right and for free at that that um my parents didn't go to college uh they went to Community College and they did one or two years but they were raised to start working and so they started working after being two years in Community College um and raising two two fine young men um and that was their mission and and so my intent was okay how how am I going to get to school and have it been have it be paid for and taken care of and the only way that I that I knew how was to earn scholarship um and so my parents made sure that I I I handled my business in the classroom you know stayed on top of my academics um you understood the work ethic in the classroom submitted assignments on time I was a bit of a procrastinator at times because classes did come a bit easy to me as well uh but good uh and that really trampol leaned me into earning scholarship opportunities um going into my junior year in high school I think it was yeah going into my junior year in high school uh started earning scholarship opportunities and it was only a handful but it was more than none um and that was a that was a big that was a big thing for me and for my family Earning a Scholarship and Playing at Stanford I was fortunate enough to to earn a scholarship and go on and further my education graduate from Stanford University yeah and to be first generation um from Los Angeles California Compton California nice first generation to go to Stanford uh and my family was was a big deal absolutely it was a really big deal um yeah and I took and I took that to heart because I wanted to inspire those that followed after me to have the the desire to do whatever it is they set their hearts to do whatever that looked like you know I didn't want them to be exactly like me but I wanted them to see what was possible and what was attainable and so you know uh played graduated from Stanford and I was I happened to be there during some some pretty uh successful years Harbaugh was was my head coach my first two years and Dav that's what I was going to ask you yeah you were there yeah so two two great coaches there yeah before you move on let me ask you a question because I really appreciate you sharing what you're sharing for those who are listening you said you know a lot of school and stuff came easy to you um what kind of sacrifices did you have to make to stay on your school get into Stamford you know obviously there sacrifices and anything I'm curious what did that look like because I think that will help the audience as well people sometimes just hear certain things and stories but there's a lot more I'm sure behind that of okay in order for you to get a full ride what did you also have to miss out on right uh I guess I don't necessarily look at it as as missing out on and I think that comes with just maturation over the years if you would asked me this question at 24 years old I probably told you I missed out on a lot but but I I look at it more as um I I had the opportunity to invest my time in something that would allow for me to better my life right and so in terms of sacrifice um the things that you know I probably um missed out on I didn't necessarily hang out with a lot of people like that like I didn't hang out with friends you know on a on a you know regular Wednesday night you know whatever it may be or Saturday night like Saturday night or a Friday night you know I didn't I didn't you know you know go to parties or you know I didn't I didn't you know spend a lot of time at the mall or you know at the beach now I'm not saying that I didn't do any of those things but it was not at uh you know high amount of times I should say like it wasn't it wasn't a large number in terms of those opportunities you know for instance like on Sundays this is a prime example on Sundays you know we would go to go to Sunday school go to 11:00 a worship after 11:00 am. worship we would go get a quick lunch and then we would go to the field around 2:00 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday afternoon then we would be at the field till about 4:00 and so you know that's that's one example where you know others may have went straight home you know sat in their house you know watched watched you know TV you know Sunday football or you know was hanging around in the neighborhood riding their bikes uh whatever it may be like that that wasn't that didn't exist for us and so it was it was a lot of just missing out on um opportunities that weren't beneficial to for what it was that I was trying to accomplish and so that that and you talk about sacrifice that's what that's what it may be you know I uh now my parents weren't strict by any means like my dad you know obviously being a minister um you know and he had made maybe have made his mistakes growing up like he you know wanted to model what Grace looked like and so they were they were we may have made some some some poor decisions um and it was you know obviously you know train up a child and the way they should go when they leave that sh they shall not depart and amen know he definitely you know gave us tough love and things of that nature um but he wasn't strict wasn't overbearing you know like I didn't have put it this way when I was in high school I didn't have a curriculum I mean a u what is it uh curfew curfew I didn't have a curfew right I don't even I don't even know what it is I never had it you know right I didn't have a curfew but that's because I didn't necessarily do anything outside of yeah raining or or spending time with family and so that if that answers your question turns it does yeah it it was all more so okay what decision is going to benefit me in the long run I love that and I appreciate you sharing that what decision is going to benefit us in the long run because you said okay you were thinking about this when you were 10 and 10 or 11 and I mentioned to before we started hitting the the record button uh we're going through a book with our son um Seven Habits of Highly Effective teens and that's what it talks about it talks about setting a goal and this idea I have a book here by Trevor moad he since has passed but he was like he was a coach for Russell Wilson like a Mento coach and he worked at University of Alabama and different and different places like that but it's just like it takes what takes and that's that's what it sounds like what you're saying it's like okay if this is the goal then I have to eliminate the other things and I love that it's not even necessarily a sacrifice it can be but the goal is that's what it's all about and so I really appreciate you sharing that and walking us through that because it's easy just to sometimes look at other people and say man look how look how how far they've gone but there was so much what I'm hearing intentionality right and and how you were conducting yourself how you were living right yeah I think the the awareness yeah is key right I mean I think we're kind of going through it right now with our four-year-old son just you know one of my one of my prayers is you know God like just provide me with the guidance direction to Steward the gift that you have bestowed upon him and I don't know what those gifts are but that's something that you know as time goes that I can continue to gain Clarity and discernment of what those particular gifts are but but just the awareness I think I had the awareness at a young age that I was that I happen to be you know pretty good I don't want say I was you know the guy but it came natural to me and so since it came natural to me well I'm going to invest time in becoming the best version of myself in some form of fashion so yeah no that's fantastic so you were there and that's crazy thinking about this I watched you even though I didn't know you but I remember Stanford and uh you know uh beating USC I can't remember what year that may have been in and just the the the the rise you know of um the the school and then Coach Shaw coming in and doing a great job as well for for so many years so so tell us what position did you play once you got into college were you playing multiple positions or did you end up finally on the defensive side for good yeah I was on the Playing Cornerback and the Rise of Stanford Football defensive side for good you know actually that actually became about going into my senior high school okay but I I I I I stuck solely with playing Corner when I got in college I play corner and a little bit of nickel as well yeah so um I much rather prefer delivering the blow than taking the blow came from just uh you know tackling the challenge of you know something that's out of the ordinary you know to to to go backwards where in human human um you know living normal human living we go forward you know we walk yeah um to do something that was out of the ordinary um was something that I took a lot of pride in yeah absolutely yeah it happened to be you know like you said the rise I think the first that SC upset was in ' 06 I was you know going into my junior year high school and then uh' 09 was my freshman year and that's eight and four and then we the next three years we happen to have BCs um Ty caliber seasons and so um it was a lot learned during that time um I got a chance to be around some some you know really really like tremendous football players you know from Andrew Lu to you know the the zackers to you know the Drew Terell the the the the toy Loos Stefon it's so many names Josh gar like there's so many names um that you know I could list off you know Richard Sherman you know yeah that's what I was thinking about I had I had the chance to you know play alongside you know all of those guys and and really learn from some of the best coaches uh in the game of football you know from Jim Harbaugh to David Shaws the Derek Mason's the Jason tvers you know the yeah you know it's it's again it's just you know the to Vita pritch there's so many names that I was really fortunate to to be around um and to pick up on their their intellect uh pick up on their work ethic um their dedication to see them how they operated around their families um and then it and then it carried into who I am today you know obviously that's that's the that's the Rival school now it's on the other that's right that's right but it it it's I was extremely blessed to to be around high level experts in the game of football so yeah Terrence I don't know if everybody truly understands at least this is what I think just how tough football is obviously it is physically but mentally like how big was was the playbook in college you know when you were playing because that's one of the things I'm just astounded with just putting the Playbook to memory or when someone gets traded mid season or now with you know um College the the um the portal you know a new a new person's coming in a new um players coming in they got to pick up a A playbook will Handling Pressure and Staying in the Moment you walk us through that that may be more personally for me but I'm curious how long did it take you you know when you step foot there freshman year to to put all that to to memory and how long does that work what does that look like today as as a coach yeah I mean um I was fortunate that I was like I said I I had been taught the game of football for a long time from my dad and he had been around some some high level you know type experts in terms of the game of football and so my football IQ was was fairly High um and so you know from High School like my defensive coordinator High School coach coach at the Collegiate level his name was Thurman thur his name was Thurman Moore and he even you know still coaches High School football to this day but you know playing in Nas system and playing the Nas Game prepared me mentally to um to to understand like what the demands are to pick up you know the Playbook and the information to compartmentalize you know the different cover schemes um you know language um try to word associate I think that helped out a lot because when I got to college my defensive coordinator was Ron Lyn and Ron Lynn coached professional for the Oakland the LA Raiders back in the time back in the day um and then and then actually going into my sophomore year my deepest coordinator was Vic fangio who's fio who's now the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles yeah so I played in the NFL structured system and so uh terms of information it was a lot of it but yeah uh being able to like again the association the compartmentalization um the different Buzz words that you know associated with one particular call compared to the next call is what allowed for me to uh pick up the information uh fairly quickly um now obviously there was still some some some learning bumps and bruises that you know I had to experience you know throughout my time but I think it was I think I had to upper hand on a lot of people in terms of my my initial football IQ now in terms of um just information overload in general even now in terms of playbooks a coach's job is to make it simple right right so if you have a good coach that can teach in a way uh that makes it uh you know fairly uh easy to to to comprehend I think that is what goes a long way I think I some really good coaches that were really good teachers and I think that's something that you know I take pride in is being a good teacher to try to make it as simple as possible for our players to pick up information to be able to digest it and then not only be able to understand it but to be able to apply it right you know when there are you know 60,000 plus fans watching you game right and so and that and a lot of that comes with you know repetition you know just you know we find ways to you know get our guys up on the board and try to create some of that performance anxiety in front of the room you know give them a call and they have to draw their responsibilities you know that was something that I had to do when I was a player you know um you know from simulation walking through calls just working on the communication just so everybody understands what you know what their responsibility is and they understand what everybody else is doing and that particular car and then just the replication of game like reps and practice and so all of that uh accumulates to a young man being able to digest the information now you you know there are some freshman you throw them out there and first week or so they still still trying to figure it out but I think you know take a lot of pride in trying to simplify it as much as possible yeah the word association the compartmentalization uh I think gives young men the best opportunity to to to learn the scheme in which they playing now I think offense is a bit more complex um you know because they have different checks and adjustments in you know from call to call and so yeah I can't necessarily speak for that side of the ball but iall that's that's what we try to do do let me ask you one more and I want to talk about the performance anxiety because it's I find that really fascinating do you remember any of those old plays if so can you rattle off one of them oh yeah I remember I remember like it was like it was yesterday give us give us a play so the audience can just can hear how detailed it is uh so we we we you know we had um a quarter quarter a quarter quarter half coverage that that we ran um quite frequently when I play and I don't remember the exact name of the call but I remember like how when it was uh when it was delivered the signaling like I can still see it to this day um and it basically was like in football terms it was it was a overr so over front is where you have four down linemen um you have four down lineman and they're shaded based the guard and the nose tackle are shaded based off of whatever those front rules are um and I want to say this was set to the field so that the three Tech would be to the field um the nose will be in the shade which is like aligned over the guard on the other side of the center and then you have your two outside linebackers and then we had two off the- ball linebackers and then around them was the five DB so we're playing quarters to the field I see to the boundary playing cover two and so I that was like one of our bread and butter calls and I know I made a decent amount of plays on that call so you had to know what everybody was doing I think when I got to uh when I started playing inside at the nickel position that's when my football knowledge really started to like take another level because got essentially when you play at the nickel position you're a DB and you're a linebacker at the same time right and so you have to understand where your fit potentially could be based off of where this person is inine and then you also have to understand what your responsibilities are as it comes to coverage as well and so that I'll say that's where like my knowledge of the defense as a whole took a jump now I'm I'm a master at DB I'm not a master at dline play and I'm not a master at inside linebacker play but I have an understanding of how it all ties together gotcha yeah no I I just find that amazing so I got a couple of books here I want to talk about the just you know college students professional players you know in front of 60 70 80,000 people everyone's watching it now uh with NFL even College it's it's going to be a crazy season this year this was our first book uh it takes What It Takes which is a really fascinating book now this book and this is gonna lead to my question this is uh uh the New England Patriots it's better it's better to be feared so when you mentioned that about you know handling that pressure there there's one play in the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks and I watched it and I I can never and I'll never forget it it's the fourth quarter the Seahawks are at the two yard line and there's like what a minute left and they could just hand the ball off to Marshall Lyn Marsh you know Lynch and run it in but they they put the camera on Bill bellich and he just stood there there was like there's no Panic and he just stood there and hearing more about it it sounded like he was he understood that they were maybe a little bit confused about what they were going to do and he said I'm just G to write it out essentially I was like that is unbelievable because most of the time you take the time out at the two yard line right so I that's what I want to know in particular and you you've mentioned football is like The Game of Life where there's a lot of pressure and how do we stay in the moment how do you stay in that moment you're fired up running off or running onto the field it's second quarter third quarter fourth quarter how do you stay in the moment how do you handle that pressure like what are you doing is it a pregame is it um something that you've created walk us through that yeah uh I think it varies from person to person um like I Preparation, Focus, and Confidence still I think just the natural nerves I think sometimes those are uh a bit challenging to evade uh but I think you can still focus into what it is whatever your task is all right and so I think for me you know dating back to when I was a player um because I'm I'm a high passion high energy individual and so like I have to settle down you know St and so for me on the morning of game day one thing I always do is I always listen to gospel music always listen to gospel music uh because I try to Center myself and and be able to spend that time with God to like allow for my natural anxieties my natural nerves to come to a steal to come to a peace okay and so that's that's what I do um and then when it comes to you know actually being in in in the atmosphere being in the moment my focus allows for me to I guess it essentially get like push through all those nerves or whatever it may be and that Focus comes from my confidence and that confidence comes from my prep my preparation yeah and I was as so one of my you know favorite athletes of all time rest in peace is Kobe Bryant yeah and and that's one of the things that he talks about all the time is it's confidence comes from preparation and so when I'm prepared when I feel like I prepared to the best of my ability when I need to focus all that anxiety like it no longer exists um if if anything the anxiety may be bottled up into juice after I make a this instance you know one of my players you know make a make a play um in a critical moment of the game um I would say that's what allows for me to to to be more grounded is you know first and foremost man I I got to I got to spend my time with my lord and savior because that's right that's what's gonna allow for me to just be where I need to be and be where my feet are you know and so yeah I think that's that's what I I do and I varies you know for some people some people some people like to ramp it up like that's how they they ramp it up that's how they get you know that's how they take control over those those nerves or those anxieties right you know that's how that you you know that fear no longer exists right yeah and so it I think it just varies from person to person yeah no I love that I appreciate you sharing that and um I have a friend he does some he owns a public speaking company and one of the things that he says is confidence is earned and that's what that's what you're saying the the preparation that if you're I know kobby Bryant watched a lot of game film too just listening to old um interviews and things like that just breaking down Kevin Durant and other players and it was just fascinating to see what does that look like for you with respect to game film and um how much time and things like that how does that what does that look like leading into a leading into a Saturday game yeah there's a lot The Importance of Film Study in Football of film breakdown um there's a there's a lot of analyzing uh there's a lot of study that that goes on to essentially know your opponent come game day now you know we play or I should say a coaching Collegiate football right college football so from week to week offic of coordinators they you know they they do what they do best and come up with different game plans and so you know what you gain from film study are Tendencies um you know um you're not going to get the coordinators exact style of play call or or or his exact order of play call you know I mean you may think you may have a bad on that but the reality is on the defens side of the ball we have no clue we react so yeah we try to we try to you know uh pick up on Tendencies and that information that we gather from the uh hours of film that we actually watch you know on a day-to-day basis allows for us to develop a game plan um to give our guys the best opportunity to have a chance to be successful um whatever that looks like rather that's you know uh you know maybe implementing a new call from week to week that we feel is best suited for that particular scheme or is just you know relying on what our our our bread and butter calls are and allowing for our guys to go play fast but the amount of film that you know we watch I don't think you could put a Time limit on it to be honest with you it's a lot of film um it's I I jokingly say sometimes I think the film is watching me it's it's it's all with the intent of all right can we come up with the best plan for our guys to have a chance come Saturday yeah and and that's where you know throughout the week that's where we're you know providing them with information of you know particular formation Tendencies or you know situational tendencies um whatever is going to give them you know somewhat of an advantage um you know from from down to down to to have a chance to defend their their opponent so there a there a there's a lot of I mean that the the the play you talked about with uh the Super Bowl I mean you know that you talked about with the Patriots and the Seahawks and I remember watching a video following that play that Malcolm Butler at made and in that video they talk about how Malcolm Butler messed up on messed up in practice every day in practice Yeah Yeah and and and you will be surprised how often that happens in football it happens a lot it happens a lot you know where a young man may just not be getting the culture points or may not be applying the coach points that you that you've given them in that particular moment and in the game because you've drilled and simulated in in in many forms in the game it comes to life and you're like man and it's and that's one of the most rewarding things as a coach is to revisit that the next day to pull that clip up and the to mirror it with the exact practice clip or the drill clip that look exactly like that particular play that they made and so and that that came from a lot of you know film watch Malcolm buter understood you know based off of this formation this situation what Ral concept was going to come and he jumped it he jumped it yeah calculated risk that you know we we as defensive players have to be willing to take we can't we can't game safe all the time you know we have to be willing to take risk how do you balance that as a coach with respect to okay a players not getting it then to the biggest stage at least for the Super Bowl but every game in college is a big stage because you're trying to become bull eligible and win your you know Division and Conference and things like that how how do you process that of no I'm gonna I'm gonna ride with this guy I'm G to leave him in um any thoughts with that I'm always curious you know with because you have you have a you have to have you have a talent of uh evaluating talent and recruiting and and so just is it is it just instinct is it just no I know he's gonna figure this out walk us through that well I think what my shirt says right here Grace I Showing Grace and Building Confidence in Players think is you talk about ingredient that is the number one ingredient uh in regards to to those situations is okay you know first and foremost you know haven't played at this level haven't played that position haven't made those mistakes Haven you know fix those mistakes you know I have an understanding of how my student athletes may feel uh in those moments and so first and foremost like although it's demanding and that they have a job to do and they've been recruited and they've been been expected to to to do their job um they're still human at the same time and so have to be able to model what Grace looks like uh for them and one so they can give themselves Grace and so if I'm giving them Grace in some form of fashion they're gonna be like all right well coach believes in me let me give myself Grace and I'm G to get over this hump I just gota I just got to keep listening to the coach point or find ways to um you know uh be able to digest it quicker or easier I mean maybe it's me watching more tape maybe it's me coming to sit in with Coach maybe it's me doing another ramp after practice right and so I think the grace is is is the the first ingredient in terms of and that's the most important ingredient yeah and then I think you know that's that's where we talk about with our players our jobs is to build confidence and so if if I built confidence in you know a young man you know um throughout the entirety of a offseason throughout the entirety of a spring throughout the entirety of a fall Camp you know even early on in the season and this is the fifth game in the season and he's just having a hard time well if he knows that I believe in him right then chances are he's gonna be able to get over that hump Pinar is gonna be able to get over that hump and and then you know it may not happen the next game it may not happen the next play but there will be as long as my belief still is is existing then he he'll have a chance to to get over that hump and be able to thrive in those moments like like Malcolm Butler did like that a lot of that has to do with the belief of a coach and so you know when those moments present themselves you know I just try to remember what it was like for me as a player yeah I tell my guys all the time man man I remember playing at Fiesta Bowl and you know we're playing against Oklahoma State and it was a first it was and I want to say it was a second it was a second and 10 it was a passing down situation and we were trying to get them we're trying to get uh Oklahoma State behind the sticks a little bit and so my coach calls cover zero C cover zero it's out in the middle of the field I know the coaching points I know I'm supposed to play with inside leverage I know I'm not supposed to allow for a slant across my face and I hesitated and I hesitated just one little one millisecond and Justin Blackman got across my face and the ball was thrown in the back pocket but when I come around I I transition I come around and I try to knock the ball down he's way stronger than I am so he catches the ball and he runs for a touchdown wow right and this is this is the second quarter of the game this isn't even before the half and now I had made a play at the beginning of the game to you know I guess essentially you know help us out on offense but point that I'm making is I tell my players I know what it's like to to lose I know what it's like to to make a mistake and so if my Coach had the belief in me to give me another opportunity after that play I mean I'm G I'm gonna believe in you now until you prove otherwise right now that's now that's that's one of the tough things as a coaches is like you want to make sure you give the players the benefit of Doubt but at the same time like they have a job I have a job best product out there on the field to give the team opportunity to be successful so one thing we talk about all the time is the standard over feelings like they're they're you're the standard does not care about your feelings at all right they you can't you know you can't be you can't be you know LeBron James and play at such a high level you know for all these years and that's your standard like nobody care about your feelings like when like they see you not make that play and he knows that you know what I'm saying like the great understand that that whatever the standard is their feelings subside like those those those are relevant you know as it comes whatever the standard may be yeah no I love that thank you so much for sharing that and that's what I'm hearing Terren is uh this is what leadership looks like uh Grace patience building that confidence all in the same time of saying there's still a performance there's still there's still a standard and so it's not just hey yeah I can still love you we can still be good and with that said you still have to hit this standard so it's not just about hey he's he's being mean to me or something like that and uh I think that's really good I was watching a a documentary about Seline Dion I think it's called I am Seline it's on uh Prime video it was tough man get you get emotion I got emotional watching it because she has stiff muscle syndrome and so it it affects her um her vocal cords and her whole body but the reason why I'm saying that is because you mentioned standard over feelings and so when she went back into the Studio to sing you could just hear her listening and she's shaking her head now she's like no she's like no that that's not Seline so even the great understand no that's not my standard and and it's frustrating when you start losing that but there has to be there has to be that standard for sure yeah go back to 2012 so you're at Stanford I believe that's when you're graduating what happened next and then how did you eventually decide I want to be a coach yeah so uh so I after I graduated I signed undrafted with the the Cincinnati Bengals um when I was there uh towards the tail end of fall camp and so just before that last cut that's when I that's when I was released um and then I was you know trying to make a roster in some form of fashion doing different workouts um even tried the Canadian Football League workouts as well and um nothing never really panned out for me in terms of the timing and so that was really challenging because I mean you know my whole life I envisioned playing at the next level playing in NFL and so I was able to attain that goal in terms of gaining that opportunity but I didn't have this the the sustainable I guess career that you know I desire so to say and so um reality hit me hard uh it hit me real hard uh but then I was able to I guess in that moment reflect on okay man hey you graduated from Stanford like you like like life's not over you know uh you know you can everyone said you graduate from a place like Stanford man you know there there plenty job opportunities waiting for you to step in the door and and so I I interviewed for a couple different um you know corporate uh opportunities and I even got offered the job uh but it wasn't what I was passionate about and uh and that took some prayer and that took some reflecting um and coming to realization like this isn't what I was purposed to do and so you know U stayed stayed in prayer um and I was fortunate one day to go watch I was going to go watch my younger brother he was playing at cowp s Louis baseball he's a quarterback and they were playing Fresno no they were playing uh New Mexico yeah they were playing New Mexico so my dad and I drove all the way out to New Mexico to go watch him play from LA and I was watching that game and towards the tail end of the game it's like I had an epiphany man I can like I miss being around the game um I had coached you know volunteered at high school one of my old High School coaches was the head coach at the high school so I was volunteering in the summer um I was doing the 7 on S coaching and I was still around the game and I was like man I miss it like I just miss it and and not only did I miss the game I saw the impact that I was having on the lives of the young men that I was having an opportunity to volunteer coach for and so I was like man I can do this matter Faith and Purpose in the Journey of Becoming a Coach of fact no like this is what I'm supposed to be doing after the game I told my my brother's running back coach I said hey aroso Thompson he's one of my one of my mentors I mean he's The Godfather to my daughter uh I told him I was like hey man I was like I I wanna like I want to do this coach I think I can do it and he was like you sure I was like no I think I think so like this what I'm supposed to be doing and then he uh he was like all right stay by your phone the next thing you know um towards the T of that seat season I get a phone call from him saying hey uh Keith bonifer who was the running backs coach at the University Washington at the time he's going to be out in this area um they may be looking for a defensive GA to come in after this season uh are you interested I said man of course like I would love I would love the opportunity he was like okay well he's going to be out in the IE like I'm going to give him your contact information so you guys connect yeah so I connect with him while he's out on the road doing a little bit of recruiting I connect with him um and you know he you know doing a whole rundown ask me questions man make sure like this is what I want to do and I interviewed for the linebacker defensive GA position so it was a defensive GA position coaching the linebackers mind you I play into the back end so I interviewed for that position and uh and I interview with Chris Peterson who was the you know the head coach at the time I retired I interviewed with him and you know at the conclusion of the interview basically was like man you know man you're a great guy um I I I think you would do an amazing job um however this linebacker position we want we want somebody that has a little more you know linebacker experience and um but if our defensive back GA position becomes available you will be one of the first ones we call right and so it was a bit of it was a bit disheartening at at at the time but at the same time it wasn't because it was like all right there's still some hope right so I didn't get that position so I started off at calpal St Louis abiso in a restricted earnings position as an assistant position coach coaching corners and the restricted earnings a lot of people don't know this RCT the earnings you you you you making I mean less than $20,000 right wow and so um I started off with that and so I got a spring in I was coaching in the spring yeah Lally at a lot of the like Cal poy coaches that I worked with at the time they still give me a hard time to this day end of the spring I get a phone call from Chris Peterson saying our G defensive back G position just opened up yeah yeah I'm interested um because it's it's just it's full circle so Chris Peterson actually recruited me when I really so they offered me when I was at Orange Lutheran High School they offered me he was at Boise State yeah and so I told him that on an interview I was like hey coach this might be your chance to give me the second go oh yes I love that I didn't give you the opportunity to First go around yeah and then and then so then you know I started off there you know I left the cowply slow job and I started off there that summer going into the season of 2015 and I was there as graduate assistant 2015 2017 yeah um and I had I had the opportunity to Works alongside one of the best defensive minded coaches one of the best coaches in the game of football in Jimmy Lake was now the defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons and so I had the chance to learn from him as it came to like defensive back play not to mention I'd already played for one of the best defensive minded coaches in Derek Mason yeah so it was like man I got you talk about favor I mean right was all it's all over my life yeah there's no there is no explanation to that butt guy yeah so I was um able to work alongside him and Coach NFL caliber players you know who Bakers Byron Murphy's the Taylor RS syney so I I I had the chance to learn yeah really being IND doctrin in the coaching profession from one of the best defensive back developers at the Collegiate football level which man he end up pouring that into me which all affording me the same opportunities you know as yours uh pass so yeah yeah Developing Discipline, Respect, and Hard Work that's kind of how I got that's how I got into the caching man it was it was all purpose L yeah and it's funny so courney and I actually started dating at the very beginning part of my coaching profession okay she had no clue about no her dad and her brother baseball guy so she okay in a baseball so it worked out really well that she had no clue about football because she didn't know what she she had no idea right up into and then now look where we are going into my 10th season and or yeah going to my 10th season and you she believes that this is what I I've been purposed to do she believes in my heart this is what God has placed on my heart to be able to lead and impact the lives of young men and expanding the kingdom and doing so so yeah been awesome hey man I appreciate you sharing that and um that's a God works in a lot of uh you know mysterious ways and I certainly believe in the provit of God and I really appreciate you talking about your faith and um and talking about God and talking about Jesus and I'm sure that pours out in your uh in your coaching and just day-to-day conversations um let's talk a little bit about uh young men you mentioned young men and you have a a young boy my son's a little bit older but we're both fathers you have two kids I have one um there's a brother here at the congregation we're going to be starting a camp called making good men so we're GNA get that started Lord willing at the time of this recording this coming Saturday um what do young men need to know today Terrence um obviously our boys are are younger but uh when you have opportunity to talk to younger men and your players um what what do you think they need to know what what do young men today need to be aware of and know what do you want them to make sure they leave with while you're uh with them at that time yeah man I think you know I was raised in such a manner um that has allowed for me to be the the man that I am today in terms of you know my dad um instilling you know discipline um you know instilling you know uh dedication um instilling loyalty um instilling trust um vulnerability all all those things he instilled in me at such a young age uh that that's how I carry myself this day um and I think for young men the guys that I have the opportunity to interact with and I try to be mindful of the fact that I'm not everybody's dad I try to be mindful of the fact that you know I was raised differently um but in some form of fashion you know I I I try to implement some of those traits um or or or teach them some of those traits of of what discipline looks like you know and and um and how discipline can you know not from a a being disciplined uh viewpoint but to how you carry yourself right to to um being intentional about the decisions that you make right because every decision that you make again I said earlier every decision that you make has a profound impact on your life and so it can be something as disciplined as you know walking around how you dress right you know and and again like I said I try to understand like I'm not like everybody so I don't try to tell people how to be I just try to preach the message of how you can be perceived right and and and as a as a young man um and and and for fortunately you know I shouldn't say fortunate but it just so happens that in my room there are a lot of young black men right and it and it helps in the sense that I understand how to connect with them on a more intimate level or you know brown man like we have a you know a Latino uh young man um in in our in our defensive back room as well we have you know Simon man as well so I I um I'm always on them about how they're perceived right and their perception um because ultimately um I was always taught like your impression first impressions are everything like the fact I mean like it's it's to the point where I'm I can be walking around and it could be a week or so after I've gotten my haircut and I can hear my mom in the back of my head like you need to you just never know you just never know who you're going to interact with and you want to make sure you leave a lasting impression and so you know the discipline of how you carry yourself right the discipline of um like what's of importance to you right um the discipline of how you treat others right the discipline of how you treat women you know that's one of the things I I try to do uh a lot of bring my wife around I try to bring her around a lot I try to I try to talk about how I treat my wife a lot um because a lot of young men that I interact with some of them may not have a fatherly figure at home right and so I try to give them a model of what that looks like right yeah um the commitment man being committed to whatever it is that you're doing yeah right being committed to whatever it is that you believe right right and and um I'm always always going to try to S seed with my faith you know any chance that I get uh in some form of fashion but all of these things are are are things that are discussed in the in the good word right and so everything that you know the Bible essentially tells us and how we should carry that's those are some of the same messages that I try to convey to you know my players in some form of fashion man I think the the The Power of Vulnerability and Growth the one thing I said vulnerability I think for a lot of young men and a lot of men in general the challenge for us is to be vulnerable what do you mean by that you mean like uh just you know if we're struggling with something showing emotions just talking hey I'm not doing well or I need some help I think it's a variety of things right exactly yeah you know showing emotion U being open to having conversations right um being flexible um you know um you know not being so guarded you know you know your allowing for your ego to be placed to the side you know your pride you know to be placed to the side uh that's what I mean by by vulnerability one of the things you know we try to do in our room is uh we ask everybody what their why is and we challenge everyone to get in front of the room to share their story and share what their why is and that could be challenging for a lot of young men certain young men because they're not used to you know being put on the spot and they don't they don't want to share their story because one they may be uh they may be a bit um uncomfortable um two they may fear how they'll be judged you know it's it's there are a lot of things that go into that so we try to make it a safe space to where our our guys feel comfortable that like this is home you know um but that you know the vulnerability um the treating women though I think that's so we try to have transparent conversations about that stuff and especially in this day and age for the you know Collegiate student athletes I mean yeah you know it's first and foremost you got to know how to treat people the right way right also I also think that you know because they're ambassadors of their programs their ambass of the universities they ambassadors um they're they're being placed on such a pedestal because of their skill set their ability um and they're just being publicized right because of those things you're more risk of making you know ill decisions that could ultimately affect the trajectory of your career um and the lives of those that come behind you and so we try to have transparent conversations you know we try to talk about things like you know what is you know we try to talk about you know like I said I'm sharing how like I'm taking my wife on a date tonight like this is what this where we going you know like try to share those real life examples I I share my failures and my my faults and my failures you know just so you know they can understand like you know the growth that you'll experience and so yeah there there is a there's a lot that I would like you know to to pass along the young man so those are some of the things yeah I feel consistently those are the things that I I do try to talk about um and and do try to instill in them and work ethic man this is you're not gonna get anywhere in life without working for what it is that you want I think we live in such an instant World an instant Everything Works Together for the Good Society where everything is available for you at your thumb your fingerprints that we lose sight of what it looks like to work and so that's where the game of football you know some young men may come in expecting one thing hey this ain't just gonna be handed to you like we expect you to get there but you got to work for this like this isn't I don't know who made promises to you we don't make we don't make promises to you during this deal we tell you what we believe the potential that's there and then when you get here it's your responsibility to work for what it is that you want that's the same thing in life like you got to work for the things that you desire in life nothing can be handed to you and if it's handed to you man it's it's it's probably a headache waiting for you right soon as you open that door right and so that's where we try to make sure they understand like what what that looks like and and working for things that are worthwhile yeah I really appreciate you sharing that Terence and you know that hit home with me cuz my dad wasn't around growing up and uh he had a he had a very challenging childhood and he struggled with uh alcoholism and he was uh he was more of the mean drunk and so saw a lot of things growing up with my mom being physically abused and um you know in the in the Old Testament and kings and Chronicles you have stories of Fathers and Sons and sometimes the sons would replicate or repudiate so that's what I like to tell people too you know you replicate the good things he was a hard worker when he was sober he was a great guy for many years to my mom but uh but then you repudiate the things that you know are wrong and and shouldn't be doing so um I really appreciate that and I I got a list of other questions man um and I've already taken more time than I told you in the email that I was gonna take we talked for about 15 minutes before we got started so I want to respect your time but I really appreciate you coming on the show and I want to leave you with uh any final thoughts you wanna uh you want to share with the audience um yeah I mean I you know since I I appreciate you know your um your calling and you know preaching and and you know serving God's kingdom one of the things that has been consistent for me this year that I've really really leaned heavily on um is a Bible version that's Romans 828 for every works together for the good of those who love the Lord that are called according to his purpose right and the thing that I really want to highlight on is everything works together for the good and you know there are many other Biblical verses you talked about I can do all things uh you know consider it all joy like there's there's there's many other references to that principle in the Bible that I think just is cor correlates with real life um so whatever it is that you may be facing um perspective is key and I think if you can have the mindset of this this moment this circumstance this OB this obstacle this situation if you can have the mindset of this benefiting you in the long run I think man you're only giving yourself an opportunity to just continue to climb higher and higher so whatever that looks like I know for me that's that's something I try to sell myself you know in the thickness of season when you know them hours start getting long and then them them nights of sleep start getting less and less uh realistic you know something that I try to tell myself is everything is working together for the good and so um I hope that encourages somebody that you know could potentially be you know in in a rough spot um or I hopefully it continues to provide someone with hope that's that's received favor and and has been blessed like everything that that that you will experience is going to work together for your good some form of fashion yeah thank you so much Terren and um May the best uh I want to say good luck I know you're putting in a lot of hard work and preparation so I look forward to um seeing you guys in action this year and uh I'll be I'll be watching you so look forward to seeing you on the sideline app I appreciate your time and I I appreciate all the support because you're welcome yeah yeah you're welcome you're welcome and for those who are listening thank you so much um thank you for listening and uh we'll talk to you next time take care God bless