Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Move and Tacoma Life thus far.... forgive grammar and spelling

So it has been a few weeks since I made the move from sunny orange county to the Tacoma area and boy I am still adjusting. Lets start with the move, the drive sucked, a lot. I spent about 1,200 miles in the truck by myself with only books on tape to listen to and my thoughts, scary I know. The only thing that made the drive bearable was the fact that I broke it up into three days, the first day I went only to Fresno to see Uncle Mike and the family, it was a blast! Uncle Mike and Bryan made their famous Italian Meatballs and Sausage, I got to spend time sitting around drinking some beers, watching football, and just spending some time with some great family I rarely get to see; and to top things off they made me a birthday cake which was amazing! The next morning I was on the road by 6 and headed North, the drive was long and I was 100 yards approximately in front of a 5 car melee, I saw one car do several rolls off the road! I stopped in some small town for a quick bite once in Oregon and continued all the way to Portland. In Portland I checked into the hotel and went out and had a few to unwind after the long day.

On MLK day I made it to Tacoma by 9 am and my first impression of my roommates, only one of whom I had spoken with briefly on the phone, was the other guy Mason answering the back door in dolphin shorts and his junior high P.E. shirt with the blankest look on his face about the news of me moving in. I pretty much unpacked and was moved in by 2pm and had even gotten a haircut, went over to the office and settled in. Our facilities are quite nice, the coaches' office is in need of some updating, over conference table is shaky and our chairs look 20 years old. I share my office with my roommate Alex or Bucky is what we call him, so I was worried with the amount of time I was going to be spending with this stranger because not only do we share a jail cell sized office but we also live together. However, I should have known that Coach Thomas wouldn't have people on is staff that aren't like-minded and compatible. Bucky and I hit it off immediately, it is like we have been friends for a few years not weeks, we joke and have fun but also give each other space which is awesome. Mason, short shorts, fits in perfectly with my Servite sense of humor, I could bring him home to all the boys and he would pick up with everyone in a matter of minutes! My third roommate is Bucky's older sister Leslie, she is a couple of years older than us and actually Bucky and Les' relationship reminds me a lot of mine and Katie's which is good for me because it reminds me of home. She works a lot and has a serious BF so doesn't really come out with us too much. Although she did come party with us and make it later than I did my first week but had a severe hangover, she is also a die hard Packers fan so we all have been giving her a hard time about the Packers even after they won.

I found a second job as a bouncer at a nice club in downtown, its' called Encore, it's very nice and doesn't really fit what I thought the Tacoma nightlife would be like. Everyone is really nice there, except one girl who thinks she is hot shit, don't get me wrong she is smoking hot but a total biscuit she needs to be taken down a peg or two; but I am not the man to do it. The thing I like the most about the job is that I am meeting people that I can socialize with outside of football and away from the problems of going to bars around campus with the females, not like I have time or funds to be going out. I am at the coaches' office Mon - Sat usually by 6 am but the latest 9 am and here until about 8:30 pm recruiting except Saturdays. I work security at the club Fri - sun usually 9pm - 3 am, so I am dragging and it seems pointless to try and hit on any of the cute girls I work with. At the club Sunday nights are my favorite night, it is service industry Sunday so almost everyone that comes works at a bar, restaurant, or club and do not cause many problems and the girls are smoking hot, I met one girl that was gorgeous but she lives out in Olympia, we may go out a little bit Thursday if I finish work early enough. Money is tight that is why I found a second job, the other good thing about working Fri-Sun is that I am not going out so I am not spending money I do not have to spend hahaha!

Sarkisian (Univ Washington Head Coach) talked and I got a chance to talk with him, he is exactly like my head coach personality wise and we are going to go see their spring practices when ours are finished. On Friday I met the Wide Receiver and Special Teams coach from SMU, he was a little bit off his rocker (60+ years old, bleached hair, jacked as hell, with tattoos, and has pictures of him carving it up surfing, but did this really annoying thing with his gum) but a genius on how to coach Special Teams and just teach the game. Saturday was my favorite day of the conference! Pat Ruel, the former USC O-Line coach and current Seattle Seahawks coach talked for five straight hours, I must have taken 12 pages of notes on everything from philosophy, drills, team periods, to blocking schemes. He made time fly with his demeanor and comedy; one example was his base philosophy for linemen are the 3 F's for footwork, fundamentals, and finish. If you can do those 3 F's then it will lead to more F's like friends, then female friends, which will lead to f@cking, which leads to a family, and finally once you have time and money fishing; so really his 3 F's is actually 8! HAHA! At the end of the weekend my brain was at capacity for learning anything else because I crammed it with so much football knowledge.

After my first week here I was asked to be the strength and conditioning coach for the football team, so I have had a new attitude about diet and working out. I am currently on day 9 of the caveman diet and sticking to it with conviction which is rare for me with diet. The caveman diet is basically eating nothing but meat, fruit, and veggies (which I hate) but no grains or dairy (which I consume with every meal) and the average person loses 20 pounds in about a month so hopefully I lose the weight. I do not want to be the coach that preaches strength and diet and is a fat ass. Also, I have grown quite the prominent mustache!

I really miss home, family, and my friends but this adventure has started out on a good step, hard but good. I hope things continue to go well and I develop as a coach, we start our spring practices in March which will be a challenge because I have only 7 O-linemen returning and one had a shoulder surgery. So of the 6 players I have there is not a lot of strength and talent there right now. Hopefully they continue to work hard and we make strides this spring to raise the level of competition. We are recruiting some real good linemen and have done an excellent job recruiting them, if they get accepted and get the financial aid there could be 3 or 4 freshmen starting. The staff I work with is awesome! For the most part very close to my age, one coach is from Hawaii and he is mid 30's he is a social worker full time and is coaching the Running Backs this year. The offensive coordinator, Jeff Halstead is 30-31 married with a kid and has the same affection for video games that I do, his baby girl Tatum is an adorable regular face in the office and we are entertainingly corny around her. He will also be coaching the Wide Receivers which he is really excited about being back at his old position. Jeff Thomas, the big boss man was my coach at Redlands and he is turning 30 this year, he is engaged but is so much fun to work for, not so much a boss as more of a mentor, he will also be coaching the defensive secondary. The Defensive Coordinator is Brant McAdams, he is maybe 28 and married to his college sweetheart, he was  a defensive coach when I was at Redlands with Thomas. Next, is Bucky on the D-Line, we are pumped to trash talk at practice and get some competition going between us! The youngest in the group is Spencer Crace, he played QB here 2 seasons ago and coached Running Backs last season but is moving back to QB's this year, he is cool and we have hung out a little outside of work. There is a kickers/punters/snappers coach that played with Coach Thomas at Redlands and was an All-American but I have not met him yet. We are still in the interview process for at least 2 more coaches to complete the staff. We have already set a school record for applications submitted at over 520 and still going strong! Our reputation as a program on the rise is starting to be heard by kids I call as far away as Florida and I am pumped to have a successful season.

Well if you are still reading this I know it's a lot of information at once but wanted to start this off with a complete update. There will be more to come!

1 comment:

  1. the paragraph that starts off Sarkisian, is missing the first 1/2, talking about the football knowledge I am learning. I met Herman Boone from remember the Titans and he is full of one-liners. This past weekend our staff attended a coaches' conference up by the airport where I got to meet Steve Sarkisian... pick up there

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